Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

OPUS Hotels Take Lead as Canada’s Premiere Boutique Brand

November 16th, 2011
OPUS recognized by readers of Conde Nast Traveler Magazine

OPUS Hotels recognized as Best in the World by Conde Nast Traveler Magazine

It’s time to say “bye-bye” to big hotel chains and their long lobby lineups and “hello!” to the friendly service of boutique hotels. Readers of Condé Nast Traveler Magazine have done just that.

OPUS Hotels was recently recognized amongst the world’s hospitality elite as “Best in the World” and “Best in Business Travel” by readers of Condé Nast Traveler. In fact, OPUS Hotels was the only boutique brand included on the Best in Business Travel list which has us feeling very thankful considering that travelers have a lot of choices.

Year after year, OPUS Hotels is widely recognized as best of the best by esteemed outlets including Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and Forbes Traveler. OPUS Hotels, for consecutive years, has even been included in the Presenters’ Gift Baskets at the Academy Awards.

As General Manager of OPUS Vancouver, I am extremely proud to share these achievements with our Team.

So what sets OPUS Hotels apart in a crowded market?

Without giving away all of OPUS’ fabulous secrets, here are the top 5 reasons savvy business travelers crave a dose of OPUS while on the road:

  1. Complimentary Welcome Beverage
    After a long day of traveling and being assaulted by frisky airport security agents, it’s nice to unwind with a drink. That’s why OPUS Hotels offers every guest a refreshing welcome cocktail at check-in (something airport security could consider before those invasive pat-downs).
  2. Residential Ambience
    Something to read other than the room service book? A custom music selection to rock out to in the shower? Rooms at OPUS Hotels are unlike any other. Inspired by five fictional guests, each room has its own personality, from modern and minimalist to artful and eclectic. Rooms are complete with a unique selection of artwork, books, magazines and music.
  3. Luxury BMW Downtown Chauffeur Car Service
    Time is money. Jet-setting business guests don’t like to wait in taxi queues, nor do they care for chatty cabbies blasting foreign radio. That’s why OPUS Vancouver and Montreal offer all guests complimentary downtown drop-offs in the hotels’ luxurious BMWs. So whether guests are attending a button-down business meeting, or simply popping off for some late night Chinese – OPUS makes sure they arrive in style.  
  4. Whimsical Service
    After a long day at the office, guests return to a sensory wonderland in their rooms. From freshly turned down bed linens and cool water carafes to relaxing mood music and retro candy bedtime treats, getting into bed with OPUS is an unforgettable experience.
  5. Award Winning Bars & Restaurants
    The Zagat rated, award winning bars and restaurants at OPUS Hotels are sought-after destinations themselves. No visit to Vancouver is complete without meeting over drinks at OPUS Bar or enjoying a taste of La Dolce Vita at OPUS’ Cento Notti Pop-Up Restaurant. OPUS Montreal’s KOKO Restaurant + Bar is the city’s premier dining and nightlife hotspot, and was recently included on Condé Nast’s Hot List, Hot Nights List. Hint, hint – a perfect venue to entertain discerning business associates and clients.

OPUS Bar hosts The Global Party

September 23rd, 2011

Party around the globe, OPUS Hotels style!

This past Thursday, September 15, OPUS Bar was one of 80 venues across the world, to be selected and invited into an exclusive membership to, well party… I mean really party. The event tagged as The “Global Party”  and hosted by the hottest bars, clubs and lounges across the world, from Paris to London, to New York to LA.  Yes, a prestigious list to be included in for international cities. There were only 3 locations in Canada chosen, along with Vancouver there was Toronto and our friends up in Whistler. The evening was a showcase of everything luxury from the VIP Land Rovers used as Chauffuer Service, to the Perrier Jouët Penthouses to the Grey Goose lounge in OPUS Bar. I even pulled out my best “James Bond” black and white classic suit, as we all love to play dress-up sometimes.  The crowd was a great mix of the who’s who of Vancouver, from the media to Vancouver socialites to sports personalities like our beloved goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks, Roberto Luongo. The night went quickly for all, as the champagne flowed freely… and the delicious canapés were devoured by everyone, to provide that needed sustenance to continue well into the night .  Near the end of the evening, one of the guests at the event approached me and asked what the main “theme” or “purpose” of the event was.  After taking a long sip of my Grey Goose, which was perfectly chilled, I replied  “To Party!”

How Vancouver mends our broken hearts!

June 18th, 2011

Yes, the entire world knows that our hearts were broken when our beloved Vancouver Canucks lost in Game 7 in a hard fight for the Stanley Cup, but unfortunately our hearts were broken even further by the horrible rioting and delinquent behaviour that took  place in our beautiful city. It will take a long time for us to heal, and for the world to forget, but the immense support and love coming out from Vancouverites has been, well, very inspiring.  The spirit and pride of Vancouver is coming out in full colors, especially in recognizing the heroic efforts of the Emergency Personnel who kept us safe. They all played a crucial role, the Fire Department, the Medical Response Teams and especially the Vancouver Police Department.  They say an image is worth a thousand words, how true it is when you see photos capturing the outpouring of messages of thanks and gratitude being displayed on boarded up store front windows, to sticky notes being placed on police cruisers.  It was an amazing playoff run that we cheered our Canucks on; and now, we need to cheer each other on as we rebuild our spirit and love for this wonderful city.

Blue and Green Fever!

June 10th, 2011

 

Blue and Green Fever!

Unless you have been living under a rock or live in a country that doesn’t eat, breath, and sleep for ice hockey, then you will undoubtedly be aware that our local NHL team, the Vancouver Canucks, are in the Stanley Cup Finals.  To place some perspective on the impact that this has had on the city, it is like the Gold Medal hockey game during the 2010 Winter Olympics being played on repeat.

Therefore, OPUS Vancouver, wanted to harness the hockey enthusiasm on property, and we thought it best to empower the staff to show their “true colors”…in blue and green! So for every game day we outfitted our front office staff, in Canucks gear, trying to get that perfect Canuck chic look (i.e..No baggy jerseys, but not skin tight).  We didn’t stop there, we thought, why not change our welcome beverage for guests checking in to be the colour of blue? My suggestion of Grey Goose on the rocks with blue coloured ice was not received well by the rest of the Executive Team.  The main thing is the overwhelmingly positive guest reactions allowing them to catch some of that blue and green fever.

One of the benefits to working at a smaller independent hotel, like OPUS Vancouver means that there is no Corporate Office telling you yes or no, or that you can’t be different.  Hotels all around the world try to work hard at staying fresh and unique, and one way you can do that is through changing your staff’s uniforms. Now, we may have opened the doors to  Pandora’s box for future staff requests to wear different uniforms to celebrate other sporting events perhaps like a UFC match… , but until those challenges present themselves, all I can say is GO NUCKS GO!

 

Earth Hour at OPUS: the lights will be out, but everybody will be home

March 25th, 2011

For two hours beginning at 8:30 PM on Saturday, March 26, OPUS Hotel Vancouver will join world icons like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and Rome’s Coliseum in shutting lights off to commemorate Earth Hour.

Around the world, people and businesses will turn off lights and come together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all share in common. No, I don’t mean death, taxes, and Justin Bieber. I mean our planet.

Organized by WWF, Earth Hour started just four years ago, in Sydney, Australia, and has since become the biggest grassroots environmental movement in history, with 128 countries and territories participating last year. This year participants are urged to go “beyond the hour”: to think about what else we can do to preserve the planet after the lights go back on.

On the heels of the devastation of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Earth Hour seems particularly poignant this year. At OPUS the tragedy feels especially close to home. Our own Haruko Motoyama, national sales director, was born in Japan and all her family lives there.

“I learned about the earthquake when my Mom called me on Skype from Yokohama,” says Haruko. “We spent the next three hours talking. There were constant aftershocks, and Mom kept hiding under the table. During the following days there were blackouts and the phone networks were down, so I kept up to date through Twitter.”

Fortunately, Haruko’s family is safe. But fear of another earthquake and radiation exposure prompted her parents and two sisters, one three months pregnant, to fly to Vancouver. “When they arrived they had a hard time adjusting to still ground,” Haruko says. “In Japan the earth was trembling every half hour or so.”

Haruko says she’s touched by how the international community has rallied in support of Japan. “Small things make a difference,” she says, “like Shaw Cable offering the Japanese news channel for free and phone companies offering free long distance calls to Japan. It shows that we truly are a global community.”

At OPUS we like to think that every hour is Earth Hour—except for the turning off all the lights part, which could get inconvenient for guests. When it comes to environmental-friendly hotel practices we were early adopters. So it’s only natural that we’re all about Earth Hour.

On Saturday night it’ll be lights out at the front desk, in the lobby, bar, and restaurant, and on the hotel’s exterior. Guests will be encouraged to participate, and guestrooms will be supplied with flashlights, which they can keep for $5, with all proceeds going to the Japan Relief Fund.

And who says Earth Hour can’t be a bit sexy? Dinner and drinks will be by candlelight in OPUS Bar and One Hundred Nights, where a special “Going Beyond the Hour” three-course menu will be available for $45. Throughout the hotel, 15% of food revenue will be donated to the Japan Relief Fund.

For more information about Earth Hour and how you can contribute, click here.

 

Gray skies are gonna clear up – Put on a happy face

January 30th, 2011

Blah hiss boo! Let’s face it, January is gloomy in Vancouver, and this year is extra dreary without the Olympic flame to lighten our days—not to mention thousands of bright-eyed athletes flooding into town.

But wait, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. On February 11 and 12 the dark days of winter will be lit up by Illuminate Yaletown, a two-day street festival featuring contemporary light art installations from bright-minded local designers.

And it’s my favourite price: free-99.

The same weekend, the City of Vancouver plans to rekindle some of last year’s Olympic fire with a variety of events, including free skating at Robson Square, street hockey on Granville, and LunarFest at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Bring your camera! The Yaletown Business Improvement Association will be holding a Flickr photo contest, with over $500 in prizes.

Check out these luminous entries from last year:

Fun on New Year’s Eve is back!

December 27th, 2010

Gambler, bootlegger or masquerader? Whatever your vice, OPUS Hotels invites you to ring in the New Year with all the good cheer and optimism of a champagne-soaked cheerleader.

One Hundred Days
Vancouver’s hit pop-up restaurant won’t be around next New Year’s Eve, so enjoy it while you can. Get a head start with the early seating from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. and enjoy a three-course meal and NYE cocktail for just $35. Or raise the stakes with a High Roller ticket for $150 from 9:00 p.m. to  midnight, including canapés, champagne and dessert bar, and an open bar (degree of restraint required: limit two bevies at a time). After midnight it’s $20 at the door. (more…)

You say squatter, I say artiste

September 8th, 2010

Woah. Just hacked into this blog. Now what?

Well … first, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Vinnie. Couple weeks ago, I broke into the restaurant formerly known as Elixir at OPUS Vancouver. See, they shut down for renos, but renos don’t start ‘til January, so guess what? I’m squatting. Hundred days of free rent. Sweet.

Soon as I got in, I had to make the place my own. All that brass and velvet, those tired Toulouse-Lautrec knock-offs? Gone. Kept the video monitors in the bathrooms though. I like to watch the ladies in OPUS Bar while drainin’ the main vein, know what I mean?

Next I painted those nasty yellow walls white and made ‘em my canvas. Some might call me a squatter, I call myself a graffiti artiste. I’ve defaced some of Vancouver’s fugliest monuments, and now I’m sprayin’ my territory here. Think murals, lots, always changing. (more…)

Arabian Nights: OPUS Bar’s 8th Annual Street Party

August 3rd, 2010

On Friday, July 30 OPUS kicked off a very festive long weekend in Vancouver with the 8th Annual OPUS Bar Street Party, themed “Arabian Nights”. In addition to following through with the hotel’s annual commitment to getting VIPs and regulars liquored up with sponsored cocktails, OPUS continued its five-year, $50,000 commitment to UNICEF when owner John deC. Evans presented a cheque for $10,0000.

To get sweeping footage of the event, I had planned to suspend GM Nicholas Gandossi by rope from the rooftop Cirque-du-Soleil-style, but when he caught wind of my plans he “forgot” to bring his camera. So I had to improvise from the ground with my pocket camera. Blame the videography on the Hendrick’s-infused cucumber cocktails (yum).

For party pics and buzz visit OPUS on Facebook.

Summer in Montreal: moi, j’adore

April 5th, 2010

Montreal’s summer festival season is fast approaching, a time of year when the locals take their joie de vivre to the streets. The city’s enthusiasm for arts, music and spectacle makes for a spirited and enriching summer, with back-to-back events featuring live music, street performers, comedy, sports and cinema.

I experienced festival season in 2008, after I relocated from Vancouver as Opus Montreal’s temporary resident manager. It didn’t take long to realize that my tight-assed anglophone persona needed some adjustment. Shortly after arriving, I was entertaining a group of locals on the terrace of Koko Restaurant + Bar. It was a Tuesday night, and I was hoping for an early-morning workout before work the next day. Around midnight, our waiter swung by to offer more wine, and I declined, assuming my guests would agree it was the sensible thing to do. Pas du tout. I was unanimously overruled, and the party continued until the wee hours of the morning. (more…)