A day in the life of our quiet downtown Ottawa hotel

March 27, 2020

We are a locally owned hotel with 355 rooms located in beautiful downtown Ottawa. Typically buzzing with life and warmth as we sit on Elgin Street, Ottawa’s ceremonial boulevard which also has a ton of restaurants and bars.

You would not recognize downtown Ottawa now. I come in each day along Ottawa’s Queensway, which is typically jammed with cars. My commute from Barrhaven has gone from 45 minutes to just 15 minutes. While I could work from home, I still prefer coming in to the hotel. I have never been a person who enjoyed working from home. Coming in to my empty hotel gives me that sense of reality – that sense of urgency. I love the routine and structure and while there are only 3-4 of us here, I feel more useful being on property. We keep our distance (there is so much space) and I walk around with my squirt bottle and rags, wiping all surfaces! Our housekeeping staff are all off, so we all do our bit to keep our areas clean and sanitized.

I have been listening to numerous webinars and podcasts about how to conduct business during COVID-19. We are all on unchartered territory here and doing our best, but really are taking it one day at a time. There is some comfort in that we are all in this together. There is an initiative in Ottawa to ‘Buy Local‘, to help our local businesses survive this difficult time. Purchase those gift certificates or purchase take-out at our local restaurants that have kept their kitchens going. I know our yoga studio is offering virtual classes for a very reduced fee. Whatever we can do to support our local community is so helpful.

This hotel along with our sister hotels in Ottawa, the Metcalfe Hotel and The Carleton Suite Hotel, are locally owned and we are so hopeful our Ottawa community will #buylocal and think of us when life gets back to normal. We hope when your friends and family are coming to visit this summer, or when you are planning your wedding, or meeting, you keep us in mind. We are independent hotels with amazing committed and hard-working employees, who are so anxious to get back to work. We can’t wait to call them and tell them they can return to work. We will need your help to make that happen!!

I wish you all health and sanity in these trying times. Reach out to someone who may be lonely or anxious and give them that virtual hug!! I never knew what Zoom was two weeks ago… now it is becoming a verb. Zoom someone today!!