Archive for the ‘Food & Beverage’ 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.

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.

 

A Hundred Days’ Journey into Nights

March 10th, 2011

Far out and funky! Virtually overnight, One Hundred Days has been stripped of its edgy art studio vibe and has magically morphed into an entirely new pop-up concept with a vaguely familiar name: One Hundred Nights.

Think seventies discotastic wonderland: sparkly silver walls, murals of pop icons like Ziggy Stardust and Iggy Pop by graffiti artist Vince Dumoulin (pictured above working his magic), and the all-essential glitter balls. Plus a groovy blend of glamour and whimsy—pink and white chairs, white tablecloths, and table flowers spray-painted in a kaleidoscope of colours. Best of all, the picnic tables are gone, so no more butt splinters. Chef Brandon Thordarson has refreshed the menu (“american with a small a”) but has wisely held over the Kick Ass Burger.

Boogie on, the seventies are back! But not forever (thank God)—this is a pop-up restaurant after all. So all you foxy mamas and cool cats better dust off those gold platform shoes, let out the waist on those hip-hugging bell bottoms, tease that big ole ‘fro, and—

Then again, please don’t.

What exactly is a pop-up restaurant? Not to be confused with a fly-by-night restaurant, which is an entirely different thing, a pop-up is a temporary restaurant that opens for a specific period of time and then transforms again, moves to a new location, or takes early retirement in a timeshare in Bora Bora.

LudoBites is generally considered to be the original pop-up restaurant; it’s been roaming the streets of Los Angeles since 2007. In New York, What Happens When transforms every 30 days. And The Feast in the Sanctuary Hotel opens on March 10—and closes on March 12.

There are pop-up hotels too. The name doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in structural integrity, but it’s a growing phenomen. There have been pop-up hotels in London, Paris, and Singapore. Last year, Visit London opened one in March and closed up shop five days later. That sounds like a case of bad management to me, but apparently it was all planned. The “hotel” looked suspiciously like an Airstream trailer, and each day guests woke up in a different sightseeing location.

OPUS Hotel Vancouver’s pop-up concept was originally conceived to buy time while plans were drawn up for a permanent replacement for Elixir. But it proved so wildly popular that One Hundred Days turned into about One Hundred and Eighty Days. And now we’re into Nights. But really, who’s counting?

“When we opened One Hundred Days, we set out to do something completely unexpected, creative, and extraordinary,” explains John deC Evans, president and CEO of Opus Hotels. “With One Hundred Nights, the surprise will continue within the context of our pop-up concept.” The space was designed by Robert Bailey and is co-managed by OPUS Hotels and Peter Girges of RocksGlass Concepts.

One Hundred Nights will be in constant motion, with new art going up weekly, but it won’t be around for long. So get down here and boogie before it’s outta sight. As for that Lycra cat suit and headband? Save it for Halloween.

Seriously.

See you there!

For reservations call 604 642-0557 or click here.

What do you think about the pop-up trend? Share your comments here.

 

One Hundred Days in under three minutes

October 14th, 2010

Check out this behind-the-scenes video of artist Vince Dumoulin executing the vision of designer Robert Bailey as he converts the restaurant formerly known as Elixir into the pop-restaurant concept called One Hundred Days. The restaurant is receiving rave reviews. Have you checked it out yet? Better soon – in a blink of an eye it’ll be gone.

An interview with Robert Bailey, OPUS Hotels’ interior designer

September 24th, 2010

Back in 2001, while OPUS Vancouver was under construction, we used to sneak away from the cramped opening offices to see how the hotel was evolving, and were always surprised and excited by what we saw. That surprise and excitement continues to this day, thanks in part to the talents of Robert Bailey, OPUS Hotels’ interior designer. On the heels of the launch of the hotel’s refreshed suites and “pop-up” restaurant One Hundred Days, I thought it was high time we heard from the source.

Tell us about the fresh new look of the suites at OPUS Vancouver.
My intention was to build on the success of the original décor schemes, and turn up the volume. We kept the saturated colour, brightening and updating it. I have always loved the work of decorators from the 70’s like David Hicks.  Their use of colour and pattern was so pervasive; it actually expands space rather than breaking it up. With this thesis in mind we kept the palette very monochromatic, but mixed numerous patterns for an eclectic (more residential) effect.  Although the rooms are timely, the play of pattern and saturated colour brings warmth and a sense of history.

In 2001, your design team conceived five fictional characters as muses for the hotel’s lifestyle-inspired décor schemes. They have since taken on a life of their own. How relevant are the characters today?
The muses were never supposed to leave the design studio. They were created to provide answers to our questions, like “what colour is this room and why?” The muses gave us guests in a world of possibilities. They also allowed us to step out of the generic hospitality box, and create more soulful spaces. With the room refresh we revisited them. In doing so, we asked, “Who are they now?” and “Who is our guest now?” I hope we have evolved with them.

 

High drama: one of the newly refreshed penthouse suites at OPUS

(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.

Behind the scenes before the Winter Olympics

February 9th, 2010

With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games due to start in Vancouver this Friday, I decided to pay a surprise visit to Opus Hotel to check in on frantic last-minute preparations. I didn’t exactly find what I expected!

 

Behind the scenes: A hotel prepares for the Winter Olympics

December 31st, 2009

After a sleepy year, the hotel industry in Vancouver and Whistler is about to get a blaring wakeup call. From February 12 to 28, the 2010 Winter Olympics are expected to draw 250,000 spectators, plus top athletes, foreign dignitaries and international media. Hotels are now sold-out for sixteen consecutive nights.

Given the sheer volume and related security concerns, suppliers to the Games will face a number of logistical challenges. Hotels have the added stress of being a twenty-four-hour operation. That means long days and lots of overtime for staff, who may be reluctant to waste what little downtime they have battling traffic to get home and back again.

Typically, when employees work back-to-back shifts hotels put them up in a guestroom for the night to ensure they’re perky for guests in the morning. But with visitors now fighting over scraps of private homes, campgrounds and RV parks, that won’t be an option during the Olympics. Nor will crashing at a friend’s place. Spare rooms, sofas and inflatable mattresses will be taken by out-of-town friends and relatives. Or paying strangers. The demand for accommodation has brought new meaning to the term “Go for the gold!” Employees who do make it home might discover that their enterprising spouse has rented out their side of the bed to a small Norwegian family. (more…)

So You Want to Work in Hotels, Part II: The Interview

August 14th, 2009

OPUS Hotel

When I last wrote a post about how to get a job in the hotel industry, the economy was booming and hotels were so desperate for staff they were stopping just short of dragging passersby off the street and slapping uniforms on them. These days, occupancy rates have tanked, room attendants are dozing on beds rather than making them, and it seems the only place to find job vacancies is in the obituaries.

Are job prospects that bleak? Absolutely not. Hotels are always in need of great people, but competition is fiercer than ever. Taking the time to understand the unique culture of the hotel industry will give you a leg up on other candidates. Here are a few insider tips to help prepare you for that elusive hotel interview.

(more…)