It’s done!  Our very own BC Lions are the 2011 Grey Cup Champions! For our friends south of the 49th parallel, the Grey Cup is the equivalent to the Super Bowl with a heavy dose of Canadian beer, spirit… For Vancouver, it meant a lot. It meant increased sales for restaurants and hotels, a chance for the city to shine, and for the local fans to celebrate. The energy and enthusiasm was clearly felt at OPUS Vancouver, as we benefited from being located within a 5 minute walk from the epicentre of the action, the newly refurbished BC Place Stadium. I loved every minute of the festivities, which thankfully did not include torching police cars or looting local stores. No instead, I was consumed with pride for being a Canadian, a Lions fan, a Vancouverite!

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!