Canadian Inn to close
A fixture in the downtown for three decades will soon be gone, as the Coast Canadian Inn hotel is shutting its doors at the end of the year.
The 98-room hotel, located on St. Paul Street, is closing permanently on Jan. 3, while its adjacent beer and wine store will remain open.
About 15 front-desk and housekeeping staff will lose their jobs.
The hotel's owner and general manager, Sukhbir Kang, said he decided to close the hotel because it is not financially viable.
He added there are no immediate plans for the property or the building.
Kang, who has owned the hotel since 2008, said closing the hotel was a "hard decision" to make.
"I really feel for the people who worked have here for 15 or 20 years," he told KTW.
Kang said he was originally intending to renovate the building, but cancelled that plan after the Coast Hotels franchise pulled its name from the hotel.
The Kamloops Towne Lodge in Aberdeen will bear the Coast Hotels name.
Katie Bahnson, president of the Kamloops Accommodation Association, said she didn't think the hotel's closure will have a major impact on the overall room availability in the city.
She said the market is always evolving and changing, with new rooms coming on the market.
"I don't think it's a negative or a positive. It's just all part of the process," Bahnson said.
Though the accommodation industry is heading into a slow period as winter approaches, Bahnson indicated the hotel business in Kamloops remains very strong.
The B.C. Government Employees' Union represents three-dozen members and said the closure triggers section 54 of the B.C. Labour Relations Code, which gives the union a 60-day period to conclude an agreement on the closure process with the employer.
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