A Gold River-area First Nation is hoping to open in June a 49-room hotel it has extensively renovated over the past year.
The Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation bought the closed Gold River Chalet almost a year ago and will reopen it as the Baymont by Wyndam.
The goal is to provide job opportunities to band members and others in the small community, west of Campbell River, and to foster opportunities such as cultural tours.
Major updating has been carried out on the 1968-built motel and workers are still on the job, said manager Rohinton (Roy) Kharadi.
“It is a total 100 per cent transformation,” Kharadi said. “It’s a total wow.”
Rooms have been renovated and an extension was added, with a restaurant — expected to open after the hotel is running — bar, gym, hot tub and patio with a barbecue. Kitchenettes were installed in several rooms.
Art by local First Nations artists will be featured in the lobby.
Construction is also underway at the adjacent Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation Welcome House, expected to open this fall, providing tourism services and First Nation historical archival information.
Staff housing is planned for the site in the future, said Kharadi, who estimates about a dozen people will be hired for the summer season.
An awakening pole, carved by artist Sanford Williams, is set to be raised in front of the hotel on May 22.
Gold River, which had a population of 1,246 in the 2021 census, is just over an hour’s drive west of Campbell River, along a scenic road bordered by forest.
Long reliant on the forest industry, it saw its pulp mill close about 20 years ago, prompting a move to shift gears to tourism.
The village received international attention when a young orca calf nicknamed Luna became separated from its pod and arrived in Muchalat Inlet at Gold River. The whale became attached to boats, including the MV Uchuck lll, and was killed accidentally by a tugboat propeller in March 2006.
The Gold River hotel is the latest one operated by a First Nation to open on Vancouver Island.
Last year, the Snuneymuxw First Nation, majority owner of the new Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Nanaimo, marked the grand opening of the nine-storey hotel next to the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.
In 2017, Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw First Nation bought the 85-room Kwa’lilas Hotel in Port Hardy.
A new website, Explore Nootka.com, is expected to be unveiled by the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation in a couple of weeks, featuring information and links to local services and activities, such as hiking trails, campgrounds and cabin bookings.
It will allow people to access the hotel’s reservation system, said John Gauthier, tourism and marketing officer for the nation.
Cabins on Nootka Island are being improved and luxury camping options will be offered, too, he said.
Popular activities in the area include kayaking, fresh and salt water fishing and boating.
Gold River already attracts tourists, but they tend to come for the day only or stay one night, said Anita Lawrence, president of the Gold River Chamber of Commerce, who, with husband Neil, runs Island Clayworks and a bed and breakfast called The Potter’s Place.
Once the hotel opens, “We are hoping that people will be in the community longer,” she said.
Lawrence is optimistic the hotel will encourage visitors to visit local businesses so that the benefit is spread throughout the community.
Brian Cant, vice-president of business impact and engagement for 4VI, a destination marketing office for Vancouver Island, said he’s encouraged to see additional hotel stock coming to the Island.
The reopening of the Gold River hotel shows “there are lots of rural and smaller communities to visit in the region,” Cant said.
“There are communities that have space and availability that would love to see an increased number of visitors.”
