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We’ve just opened Riu Plaza Toronto, RIU’s first hotel in Canada! It’s such great news, with so many anecdotes and records. Without a doubt, it’s the hotel that’s taken us the longest to open. It’s been six years since we announced it. And four years since the first planned opening date until the actual opening. But equally, it’s the hotel that’s broken the record for booking speed.
Within 48 hours of starting the sale, we practically sold out of rooms. This is something that can only be explained by one of this project’s best features: RIU is a well-recognised and appreciated brand in Canada thanks to holidays enjoyed by thousands of citizens at our hotels in Mexico, Jamaica, Panamá, Aruba… And that’s just one of the main reasons why we chose Toronto for the expansion of our Riu Plaza brand.
Well, that and because Toronto is such a charming city. It’s got a very special atmosphere. It’s clean, modern, with a vibrant cultural life, trendy bars and restaurants. And what I love most is that despite being a large city, its citizens seem to enjoy a leisurely life. We don’t see the speed and frenzied activity of other cities. It’s got a different atmosphere. The shops aren’t at street level but in shopping centres, making sure customers can keep making purchases during winter’s toughest months. It’s a key international destination with so much potential.
A 23-storey hotel in an iconic Toronto skyscraper
But let’s go back to 2018 when this great opportunity arose. In this case, the entire property project consists of two skyscrapers. They offered us the first 23 floors in one of the buildings, which has a total of 49. We don’t usually like to share buildings with other users, for various reasons.
- To start with, many facilities and services are shared during the construction planning and throughout the process, which can slow down any resolution if there is an issue or repair.
- Another reason is that if we want to build meeting rooms, we can’t have any weight on the structure. The conference rooms need to be open spaces, with as few columns as possible. If we have 26 residential floors above our hotel, that makes the project unworkable.
Location: 25 minutes from the airport and an hour and a half from Niagara Falls
Despite all this, we supported the project because this hotel more closely resembles the ones we have in New York and London, which are 100% for the holidaying customer. That’s why we didn’t consider building large spaces for events. It was the location that I liked the most, swaying my decision. Of all of Toronto’s charms that I mentioned before, this area pulls them all together. It’s two streets away from theatres, full of energy and attractions, 25 minutes from the airport, very close to Lake Ontario and an hour and a half from Niagara Falls. It’s the ideal location, which for us is the most important thing in a city.
A five-year commitment to exceptional quality
Construction started at the beginning of 2020 and we all know what happened in March that year. That’s really the reason for the delay in the project. It never completely stopped but it slowed down significantly. With the global standstill, we understood this perfectly at the start. We even believed it wouldn’t be detrimental to us because the level of investment needed for construction is directly related to speed. But of course, the moment of recovery came and had it been in our hands alone we would’ve picked up the pace.
Dates aside, the construction of the building is of great quality. I especially like the finishing touches and believe the spaces and interior design hit the mark. The rooms are very elegant, modern and bright. The communal areas meet our needs perfectly. A key element in our city offering is the breakfast buffet that we include in the rate. Having a space big enough to offer this breakfast without stretching restaurant capacity is super important and this hotel has just that.
Riu Plaza Toronto sets a record: 218 rooms booked in just 48 hours
When we open a hotel, we never release 100% capacity for sale. We choose to offer a maximum of 70% to 75% of the rooms, allowing the operations team to fine-tune the details, let the team settle in and master the space and service. In this case, the hotel has 352 rooms and the plan was to offer 250 in the first few weeks. Bookings also usually come in progressively. Although we put 70% up for sale, usually not all of them are sold during the first few days. But I already mentioned that Riu Plaza Toronto is a record-breaking hotel.
It’s been a while since we had sales open for October, but it wasn’t until Wednesday, 17 September when we could 100% confirm that we were opening on 19 September. Just 48 hours later and we already had 218 rooms booked for Saturday, 20 September. All of this was achieved through our OTAs members and through our website and Call Centre. These partners were struck by how extraordinary this is, which in our case is only comparable to the expectation generated by the opening of Riu Plaza España. As is the case here, most bookings are from local and national customers.
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Luis Riu, CEO of RIU Hotels & Resorts; Luis Riu Rodríguez, Head of Engineering and Maintenance (SAT) and Atlantic Operations; and Alejandro Sánchez, Director of Operations, USA & English-speaking Caribbean, at the new hotel Riu Plaza Toronto -
The team responsible for the opening of the Riu Plaza Toronto at the entrance of RIU Hotels & Resorts’ first property in Canada -
The management team leading the launch of the Riu Plaza Toronto, RIU’s first hotel in Canada -
Luis Riu, CEO of RIU Hotels & Resorts; Luis Riu Rodríguez, Head of SAT & Atlantic Operations; and José María Sanchís, Director of Construction in the Americas, with other members of the opening team at the new hotel Riu Plaza Toronto
A warm reception for the RIU brand in Canada
That demonstrates the deep affection that Canadians have for our brand. We already knew that, but I don’t think we were entirely aware. I came to realise just how recognisable the RIU brand is when I started to travel to Toronto more frequently for the project. It happened to me a lot at passport control. Just by seeing my surname, I was asked if I had anything to do with the chain and when I said yes, they listed out the hotels they had visited. In the meeting room with the project sponsors, two of the three of them were holidaying in RIU.
That’s a great source of pride and also motivation to keep pushing forward. For a customer who already appreciates us at a holiday destination, we can’t let them down in the city. We may not have the sea, swimming pools and variety of restaurants, but we do have our friendly nature, our professionalism and a great breakfast buffet. Congratulations to the entire team who have made this opening possible. And best of luck to our operations team who now take on this great responsibility. You’ve got bucket loads of talent to pull it off.
Fdo. Luis Riu
