Colwood’s first hotel is almost upon us.
The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Victoria - Colwood opens to the public Nov. 2, completing the third and final phase of the seven-year Westridge Landing development on the intersection of the Island Highway and Wale Road.
“We are very excited, it’s a much needed hotel addition to the area and we are looking forward to making a positive impact and enrich the community that we are in,” general manager Jaulene Matkin said.
One way she said she would do that is to hire locally for the 50,000-square-foot hotel featuring 80 rooms that will need between 15-25 employees to operate. WorkLink hosts both the information session Sept. 28 and the hotel’s hiring fair Oct. 3.
“I think a big part of this is to find the right people to help run this hotel. We are hiring and looking for wonderful people to be part of an award-winning team,” Matkin said. “We feel what fires our success is our commitment to our staff.”
Meanwhile, hotel construction is nearing completion as they focus on bringing in furniture by the truckload to decorate, fill and put the final touches on the property before their early Nov. opening. They plan a grand opening in the new year.
The Holiday Inn’s Express hotels are a line that don’t feature restaurants, instead focusing solely on the hotel without some of the amenities. However there are restaurants in Westridge Landing on top of a convenience store and numerous other businesses nearby. Westridge Landing also features a 3.86-acre mixed use commercial development with retail and office units several buildings and mid-rise residential apartments.
Anyone wishing to apply for a position may attend the information meetings at Worklink on 3179 Jacklin Road from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sept. 28 for the information session and Oct. 3 for the hiring fair. Anyone unable to attend those sessions may email the general manager at jmatkin@hirevictoria.com.
alim@goldstreamgazette.com