Happy New Year from the Granville Island Hotel and Dockside Restaurant
As it has for the entire city of Vancouver, 2010 has been a year the team at the Granville Island Hotel and Dockside Restaurant will not forget. It started with the party of a lifetime as Vancouver welcomed the World for the Winter Olympic Games. Thought we were completely sold out during the Games, Every member of our team worked long and hard to ensure that our all of our guests were able to enjoy their stay and make the most of their stay.
Like VANOC, we had our own challenges in readying for the Olympics as a frozen pipe during the cold snap in December caused a flood and damage throughout the hotel including the collapse of the kitchen ceiling. Our contractors did the repairs under the deadline pressure and got the repairs and room renovations which were already underway ready for business just in time for us to welcome a full house of guests and staff from Coca-Cola who took over our whole hotel.
Granville Island was abuzz with activity as it was the home to Switzerland House, the Place de la Francophonie and Atlantic Canada House along with events from the Cultural Olympiad. The Granville Island Hotel was directly across False Creek from David Lam Park and the Live Site and we could hear the noise of 20,000 spectators cheering as one as Sid Crosby scored the overtime winner.
After the Olympics, life returned to normal and we began another busy and deeply satisfying year of hosting hotel guests, special events and diners. For example, we hosted 36 weddings this year along with almost 50 Christmas parties of 20 people or more and we’re expecting to have over 400 people come and join us for our Festive Traditions brunch and dinner on Christmas Day! After that there’s just one more big party—our legendary Cityscapes New Year’s Eve celebration—before we close the book on this momentous year.
Everyone who dines in the Dockside Restaurant will enjoy the menu development and new flavours put in place by our Executive Chef Jeff Batt who came on board in late 2009 and had put his stamp on our menu of superbly executed West Coast classics and casual favourites. We’re really excited to see where he’ll take the menu next.
Along with the room renovations that were completed for the Olympics, we also began some important work to make our patio an even more unique and special place to enjoy the cityscape along False Creek. We’re building a unique gazebo this winter to the new outdoor fireplaces that were installed in the spring. Protected from prevailing winds on three sides, the patio will have everything needed for a one of a kind al fresco dining experience or to enjoy evenings outside. If all this wasn’t enough, we also recently spruced up our front entrance with a new awning, planters and a lit fountain to provide guests with a more enjoyable and stylish welcome to our front doors.
While we have much to look back on in 2010, the entire team at the Granville Island Hotel and Dockside Restaurant is looking forward to a great 2011 when we’ll be able to launch our completed patio and take all the lessons we learned in this incredible year and use them to offer our guests an even better experience each and every time they visit.
Best wishes for a Happy New Year to you and yours from the entire team at the Granville Island Hotel and Dockside Restaurant.
We hope that your 2011 exceeds your wildest wishes!