Victoria’s newest hotel will be missing some modern bells and whistles when it opens, but it’s got one thing you’re unlikely to find in other hotels — directions on how to use a rotary phone.
Opening May 1 at 3110 Douglas St., Hotel Zed’s funky, retro and renovated 62 rooms will each feature detailed instructions on how to use the bedside rotary phones.
“It will be a step-by-step guide, and the last [step] will be a QR code, so if they still don’t get it they can click on it with their phone and it will show a 1940s video on using a rotary phone,” said Mandy Farmer, chief executive of Accent Inns and the driving force behind Hotel Zed.
The idea clearly tickles Farmer, who came up with the concept for a retro hotel 12 years ago while doing her MBA.
Hotel Zed, across the street from Mayfair Shopping Centre, replaces the aging Blue Ridge Motel that Accent Inns has owned for the last 15 years.
“I must say this is the most fun I’ve had being able to do things so unusually,” she said. “And it’s so exciting to do it here as someone born and bred in Victoria.”
Hotel Zed, with its bright and cheerful colour scheme, authentic retro touches — the hotel shuttle is a 1967 Volkswagen bus that seats seven — evokes the 1960s and ’70s. Farmer’s team also paid close attention to detail in breathing new life into the building.
Bulletin boards in rooms replace guest directories; alarm clocks and phones are from that period; desks are steel, practical and government-issue but revamped to match eye-popping orange, pink and black, or blue and green colour schemes.
“It’s been a huge makeover,” said Farmer, noting they stripped rooms to their bones. They spent close to $1 million on the retro remodel, adding an indoor-outdoor pool area with soon-to-be-installed waterslide, ping-pong room, and a lounging area in the lobby complete with typewriters to use with Hotel Zed postcards.
“One of the things we said was we’re not going to do it half-assed. If we are going to do this, we are in and going to make it awesome,” she said. “If you [remake] an older property you have to make it awesome, and the fact we are not downtown, I have to make it extra special so people will choose to stay here instead of downtown.”
Hotel Zed is among several recently renovated hotels, including the Fairmont Empress, Delta Ocean Pointe Resort, Coast Harbourside, Chateau Victoria, Hotel Rialto and the Executive House, which is being upgraded to a Hilton Courtyard.
Hospitality industry consultant Frank Bourree thinks Zed is on the right track to compete.
“I think her concept is really funky and interesting and it really is a clear point of differentiation from what she had there before and it will attract a lot of attention,” he said. “It’s a niche concept that should really appeal to younger groups.”
Farmer said she expects it to appeal to a wide audience. “At first, we thought we were going after the hipster market, but we realized it would appeal to people not wanting to stay in a boring hotel, people who want to experience something fun, unique and out of the ordinary,” she said, adding the $100 a night price should appeal to a broad demographic.
Farmer said Hotel Zed could be a template for a new line of hotels for Accent Inns, but it won’t mean converting their existing five properties.
“This is so not an Accent Inn. What we have with Accent is great and successful and I don’t want to mess with something that’s a great success,” she said. “But this is something I think is really cool, taking older properties probably slated for the demolition ball and preserving the heritage of the mid-century.
“I have a gut feeling it will be really successful.”
The hotel will also offer free bikes to use on the nearby Galloping Goose trail, a new restaurant to open in July and high-tech touches such as free Wi-Fi, Wii game stations in the ping-pong lounge and in-room media hubs.
