News photo Zoe Mason
Director of operations Alexey Volosnikov, new owner Leo Ho and Lodge general manager Jill Scherer stand in the lobby of the Medicine Hat Lodge. Updates to the aging property have already begun since Ho took over ownership Feb. 3.
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Lodge has new owners, and they have high hopes for revitalizing the local landmark.
The Lodge officially changed hands on Feb. 3, and new owner Leo Ho says the foundations for success are already there.
Ho started in the hospitality industry 30 years ago, growing his business from 20 employees to more than 200,000. Today, he manages a portfolio of 16 hotels across four provinces, with the Lodge as the latest acquisition.
“For me as a hotel operator, the bones of this building are very, very good,” said Ho in an interview with the News on Friday.
“The place is huge. The place is clean. It was built in the 1980s, so the hotel was built with bigger rooms. I have 50 per cent ownership of the casino too, so we drive a lot of customers in and out both ways. It’s all under one roof.”
Ho says the recipe for success in hospitality comes down to two things: good staff and location, location, location. He says the Lodge has both.
A traffic study Ho commissioned highlights the value of the Lodge’s location. Of the major intersections with the Trans Canada Highway, the Lodge’s corner on Dunmore Road sees more than 22,000 cars pass through per day.
The numbers drop off at every subsequent intersection, with just over 7,000 passing through the city’s last major intersection at Box Springs Road.
Ho says the traffic corresponds to the many amenities offered in the area.
“It’s a retail giant powerhouse in here. So I think the success is that we are in that location.”
Ho plans to spend $6 to 8 million in renovations over the next few years to implement some needed updates and restore service to the rooms that are offline.
Then, once the place has been given a facelift, he would look to attach the Lodge to a larger hotel franchise.
“Right now, we took over and we’re in a state we call a white label, which means that we don’t have a name like Radisson or Best Western or Delta. We just call ourselves the Medicine Hat Lodge.”
In order to attract a franchise, Ho says they will have to put in some work.
“There’s a lot of upkeep that there hasn’t been too much love put into for the last few years,” said Ho.
His priorities for the renovations include updating lighting, repairing HVAC, and improving the pool and waterslide, which Ho calls the hotel’s biggest asset.
Director of operations Alexey Volosnikov says those updates are already underway.
“We’ve already started to work on the rooms, some have been out of order for three years,” he said.
Ho says there are some questions remaining about the future of the co-located Copper Coulee Casino.
Last spring, news broke the casino may be moving to the Box Springs area.
Ho says his focus for the time being is improving the hotel. He says any decisions about the future of the casino will come further down the line, and will require conversations with his partner.
“It’s hard to give an answer right now, it’s all speculation. But I think it seems like the customer is very happy with the casino right now.”
Still, he says moving the casino remains on the table.
Ho has some other plans for the property, including converting some of the 1,000 space parking lot into a strip mall to capitalize on the Lodge location at the start of the Hat’s biggest retail corridor.
There are plenty of changes on the horizon for the property. But Volosnikov says people should feel optimistic about the transition.
“I have also been in hotel operations, same as Leo, around 30 years. We have a clear picture of what’s working and what needs to be improved, and the guest will feel the difference,” he said.
“The approach is simple, listening the community and the staff and the guests and then moving from there.”
