This text is part of the special Business Tourism booklet
As the Auberge des Gallant celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, Nicole Gallant, co-owner for four decades now, has just handed over the reins of the hotel to the next generation. The hotel owner shares with us her experiences and her point of view regarding the future of her establishment.
“The business tourism market is really the essential product of the hotel industry, particularly in the regions,” says Nicole Gallant on the other end of the line. While weekends are occupied without too many problems by leisure tourists, the business clientele, which rents from Sunday to Thursday, is the one that makes it possible to hire full-time and year-round staff. . “In the fall, winter and spring, these customers ensure the survival of our hotels and the job security of our team,” says Ms.me Gallant.
A hostel on a human scale
Halfway between Montreal and Ottawa, the Auberge des Gallant is an ideal meeting place for meetings and business events on a human scale. “Small companies can come together and have exclusivity of the site, and that is invaluable”, measures Mme Gallant. Close to Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport, but in the heart of the Montérégie forest, the Auberge site allows business clients to meet in peace and privacy. “If we want to have people’s attention 100% and create a feeling of belonging, it’s at the Auberge that it’s going to be done,” she says. In addition to offering all the equipment needed to hold a meeting or a convention, the Auberge allows participants to take moments of rest in the heart of nature, whatever the season.
The hotelier also made it a point to always be ahead of clients’ needs: “You have to try to anticipate needs, that’s the secret of a good hotelier,” she stresses. She also hopes that certain ways of doing things imposed by COVID, such as not cleaning the rooms during the stay of customers, will not remain.
“It’s part of the customer experience! We must not impose our way of doing things on customers. Conversely, we must meet their expectations, and even go beyond them,” believes Ms.me Gallant.
From challenge to challenge
Long before the pandemic, business tourism had begun to change. “Already, we were noticing an increase in virtual meetings. The small meetings that fed the small hotels were dwindling,” notes Ms.me Gallant.
If COVID-19 has accentuated this trend, the co-owner believes however that we will observe a return of the pendulum: “People are going to need to see each other again, to create a synergy, as they have not been able to do for two years. . »
At the Auberge des Gallant, the pandemic was, like everywhere else, difficult, but the establishment was not experiencing its first challenges. In 2012, the Auberge almost completely burned down in a fire. “Overnight, my employees and I found ourselves on the street. It took two years to rebuild,” she recalls.
Hold the fort, before handing over the keys
On the day the Quebec economy closed in March 2020, Nicole Gallant was confident: “I knew we would get through it. It couldn’t be worse than a fire,” she said. To ensure the maintenance of its team, it decided to continue paying its employees and worked to find other ways to give them work, in particular by participating in My cabin at home, thanks to the Gallant sugar factory.
The fact remains that several events, which are planned several months or years in advance, have been canceled or postponed multiple times. “We specialize in meetings that bring people together from across Canada and the United States. Since the start of the pandemic, the number of meetings we have held can be counted on the fingers of one hand, ”laments Ms.me Gallant.
Like everyone else, the Auberge des Gallant has had to “reinvent itself” in the past two years: packages, including one for teleworking; animation of the land outside (illumination of the path, fireplaces to settle outside, etc.); investment of nearly half a million to comply with the measures, among other things to adapt reception to physical distancing.
And despite all efforts to maintain the team, some members left; the next generation will therefore have to rebuild it, a first challenge for them.
“But maybe that’s good, as the children regain control of the Inn. They can rebuild their team”, consoles Mme Gallant.