North Bay hotel industry starting to recover

North Bay -

It’s been a quiet 19 months for the hotel industry, but with the return of sports, concerts and business conferences, hotels in North Bay say their rooms are finally filling up again.

"I would say it’s doing really well," said Holiday Inn Express manager Parth Dholakia. "In terms of recovery if we compare to pre-pandemic levels, it’s definitely getting close to that level … It’s definitely a good thing for the community."

While strict COVID-19 health and safety protocols are in place, proof of vaccination is still not required to stay.

"Everyone needs a place to stay when they travel, so we can’t really restrict that," said Cindy Rivest-Vainio, sales manager at Best Western North Bay.

"For us, we do have the outlets, the swimming pool, the fitness centre, the restaurant, so anyone wanting to enjoy those amenities does have to show proof and we allow that at check-in."

North Bay also offers plenty of 'on the water' hotels and resorts. These places are going through a slower time since they don’t typically have hockey teams and business conferences booking a stay.

But Sunset Inn On the Park owner Chetan Patel told CTV News it will get busy again soon.

"Hopefully this year, the season stays open and people are able to come up here for snowmobiling and ice fishing," Patel said.

"It basically starts in the middle of January until the first week of March and it does get busy. North Bay itself gets busy. Especially on this side of town because we’re on the lake and the trail is on the lake itself.”

Hotel officials said the industry lost close to 85 per cent of revenue throughout the pandemic, and while things seem to be trending up again, it’s too early to know what direction things will head.

“We don’t really see most of our business come until the last couple months so it’s tough to say how the profitability will go,” said Dholakia.

"It’s definitely positive signs and we’re hopeful the next 12 months will be good recovery."