Talk about service.
If you’re a guest of the Inn at Laurel Point, and you happen to have a concern, you could end up speaking to an emissary of God.
That might be more clout than you need to get the heat in your room turned down, but it’s one of the perks of having a general manager who is also a priest.
The Rev. Ian Powell is known to perform early morning mass at Christ Church Cathedral before heading into the office at the Laurel Point.
His staff tend to appreciate those days, especially if an overly pushy guest demands to speak to the boss, only to have Powell arrive still wearing his collar.
“It’s amazing how the problems go away,” he said, grinning.
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Mind you, Powell, 59, could handle most issues with or without his priestly trappings. He’s been a hotelier far longer than a priest, having gone to hotel school in England before embarking on 35 years in the business, including stints running the Fairmont Palliser in Calgary, the Empress Hotel in Victoria and the Hamilton Princess Hotel in Bermuda.
It was while in Bermuda, with the Fairmont facing the prospect of a hostile takeover in 2005, that Powell got the call from above.
“It was a voice in my head as clear as day that said: ‘You know what you’re bloody well supposed to be doing, just get on and do it.’ ”
That Christmas, he returned to Victoria and spoke to the bishop about becoming a part-time priest.
“There is no such thing as a part-time priest,” the bishop sternly reminded him. “But you don’t have to do it all the time.”
“I said: ‘OK, I get the subtlety,’ ” Powell recalls.
He was, however, still stuck in the middle of the Atlantic. Then, a few months later, the Laurel Point came looking for a general manager.
As befitting a hotel run by a priest, the inn has an unusual history. Built by Delta Hotels in the 1970s, the inn sits on a peninsula at the entrance to Victoria’s Inner Harbour where First Nations people once held potlatch ceremonies.
Paul Arsens purchased the hotel in 1980. A local entrepreneur, he had established Paul’s Restaurants Ltd. in 1938, opened the Sussex Café on Douglas Street, followed by the Majorette and, finally, the landmark Paul’s Restaurant and Motor Inn.
In 1989, he and his wife, Artie, commissioned their friend and famed architect, Arthur Erickson, to design a second wing at the inn. “The story says [Paul] wanted to expand it, they were playing cards and Arthur lost and he said: ‘Well, you can design me a new wing,’ ” Powell said. “That’s why we call it the Erickson wing.”
Viewed from the harbour, it looks like a ship coming into port.
Arsens died of cancer in 1997, but Artie remained at the helm until her death in 2008 at age 94.
“Theirs was quite the love match,” Powell said.
“Paul had started his stuff from nothing in 1938; he’d built up a lot. So she was determined that when she was gone that stuff that he’d built wasn’t going to just disappear, get turned into something else or get bought by a big company and become a widget.”
So she set up a trust with three trustees who serve as directors of Paul’s Restaurant Ltd., and Powell as the managing director.
His arrival at Laurel Point in 2006 was met with some trepidation given his long service with the Fairmont chain.
“I personally remember thinking: ‘Oh my goodness, we do not need someone corporate; we are just such a family-run, fun, independent property,’” recalls Julie Wright, human resources director and a 17-year employee of Laurel Point.
Her fears were quickly allayed by Powell, whom she credits with protecting the family atmosphere while still using his wealth of experience to strengthen the leadership team, update the hotel and raise the level of professionalism and respect.
“He’s certainly not your typical general manager,” she said. “He really gets to know the staff. He comes in quite early in the morning, between 6 and 6:30, and he’ll chat with our night audit and front-desk team.
“He knows all of our colleagues by name and will say ‘hi.’ And that culture spreads.”
Former Victoria councillor Helen Hughes, whose Souper Bowls of Hope charity moved to the Laurel Point in 2012, said Powell’s influence is noticeable.
“You can tell if the staff is happy when you go into a hotel,” she said.
Everyone at the inn pitches in to help with her annual fundraiser for at-risk youth. “They’ve been most generous and very, very willing and able to help us to put on a good event. You have to have that kind of generous spirit, but also a business-like spirit. Our organizing committee has always said: ‘Oh, aren’t they marvellous.’ ”
It’s also in keeping with one of the trust’s goals of giving back to the community. At present, the company’s profits get plowed back into fixing up the inn and bringing it up to date, Powell said.
“But when we are in a situation where we’ve fixed it up and there’s some excess profits, they will be used for good works in the community.”
That will mesh nicely with multiple roles. An early riser, he stops at Paul’s Restaurant on the way to the Inn before 6 a.m., and by the afternoon he’s off to visit parishioners in hospital.
He decided a while ago, he said, to stop putting his life in boxes.
“I’m one person, so I decided that all of this stuff would blend together,” he said. “I would suggest that who I am is why I am a priest and a hotelier.
“They are so close it’s not even funny, because it all comes down to dealing with people. And how you deal with them in a fair and ethical and equitable way — that’s the basis of my faith.”