Canada’s unofficial start to the summer – Victoria Day

First things first: if you live in Western Canada, you’ll say May Long, and if you live in Eastern Canada, you’ll say May two-four. Same thing!

The May long weekend is officially called Victoria Day which is a celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday – May 24th. She ruled from June 20, 1837 until her death on January 22, 1901 which is the longest reign of any monarch, 63 years and 7 months. After her death, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada establishing a legal holiday on May 24 (or May 25 if May 24 falls on a Sunday) under the name Victoria Day.

Victoria Day is less than a month away, so we thought we’d give you some ideas of how to spend your long weekend. And what better place to celebrate Victoria Day than Victoria, a city that bears the same name.

Since Victoria Day marks the beginning of summer, or at least that’s what Canadians would like to believe, take a trek to Victoria’s scenic Butchart Gardens. A National Historic Site with 55 acres of beautiful gardens, this is the perfect opportunity to catch the floral sights in full bloom.

Bastion Square, located in the heart of downtown Victoria, looks out on the Inner Harbour and features the city’s best restaurants and cafes. On Saturdays, it’s home to an artisan market with locally made arts and crafts, and on Sundays, features a Farmers’ Market with locally grown produce and fruits, homemade breads and pastries, authentic Mexican food, and much more.

The British Columbia Parliament Buildings exhibit the province’s true history. The Neo-baroque buildings face the Inner Harbour and are kiddie corner to The Empress Hotel. A statue of Queen Victoria stands on the front lawn as well as a statue of a soldier to commemorate the province’s World War I, World War II, and Korean War efforts. Free guided tours of the buildings are offered year-round.

If the outdoors are more your thing, you’re in luck. The Victoria area is full of stunning lakes and forests.

Thetis Lake refers to two freshwater lakes (Upper and Lower Thetis) in Thetis Lake Regional Park and is home to many Garry Oak and Douglas fir trees. The park includes several beaches and forest trails and is extremely popular in the summer.

Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary is an excellent place for year-round bird watching. The marsh around Swan Lake provides the perfect habitat for many birds and small animals, including muskrats, river otters, and minks.

When Monday rolls around, make sure to take-in the Victoria Day parade complete with marching bands, colourful floats, clowns, and over 100,000 spectators. The parade lasts about three hours, so bring a blanket, snacks, and don’t forget an extra jacket and umbrella. It is, after all, spring on the West Coast. The parade starts at Mayfair Mall at 9am and proceeds along Douglas Street, finishing at the intersection of Douglas & Humboldt in the downtown core.

There are so many attractions and beaches  to visit. But whether you decide to spend the weekend sightseeing or hiking, make sure to include Sandman Hotel Victoria in your Victoria Day long weekend plans!

iPhone or BlackBerry? Whatever your Smartphone of choice, Sandman has an app!

Sandman's new Mobile Application for BlackBerry

No longer is it enough that your phone is simply a device that lets you call people, Smartphones are the new ‘must-have’ accessory. Armed with your Smartphone, you have a world of knowledge and entertainment at your fingertips – and contact with your friends and colleagues is but a BBM, Tweet or Facebook message away (to name just a few of the wealth of social media and messaging platforms available today).

Not forgetting of course – ‘the app’ – handy little digital shortcuts from your phone  to almost anything you can think of including both the weird and the wonderful in everything from gaming and entertainment to shopping and travel.

With the app becoming common-place and Smartphone use on the rise, it seemed only right that Sandman reach out to the technically captivated with their very own app, making it easy and quick for guests to book hotel rooms from their phones.

As some of you may know, we launched the ‘Sandman Mobile App’ for iPhone in September and we’re pleased to report that it’s been a resounding success. Since launching, it’s been downloaded more than 2000 times resulting in over 200 bookings! These stats alone are testament to its great functionality. So it is with great pleasure that we announce the arrival of our equally seamless ‘Sandman Mobile App’ for BlackBerry users.

Everything you need to make a decision about where to stay through to booking a room and managing your reservations, is packaged into one concise and seamless application. The app offers guests the best rates at all Sandman locations, and full access to the entire Sandman Hotel Group collection, including extensive photo galleries, it will even tell you where your nearest Sandman Hotel is.

With the ’Sandman Mobile App’ you can:

• Book a hotel room
• View upcoming reservations
• Browse photo galleries and lists of amenities for each hotel
• Gain access to special offers
• Find Sandman hotels with GPS and interactive maps
• Use Click-to-call buttons to connect directly to each hotel
• Enrol in the Status plus rewards program and start earning and redeeming Status Plus Rewards Points

To download the Sandman Mobile App for BlackBerry, simply visit: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/59458?lang=en and don’t forget to tell us what you think!

iPhone users – if you haven’t downloaded our Sandman iPhone app yet, surf on into the iTunes store and get it today http://itunes.apple.com/app/sandman-hotel-group/id453723321?mt=8

If you have an Android phone and are feeling left out right now, please be assured that we’re in the midst of developing an app for you too! Stay tuned for more details coming soon!

Get In Bed With Sandman!

A major milestone was achieved over the weekend for construction crews who have been working feverishly at B.C. Place Stadium. The iconic marshmallow roof was deflated May 4, 2010, and what has been going on behind the hoarding has been a complete mystery to the average British Columbian.  In its place, is a half billion dollar renovation, featuring a cable-supported retractable roof – the biggest of its kind in the world! According to PavCo (the B.C Pavilion Corporation), key facts about this 17 month project include:

• A blue sky opening measuring 100 metres by 85 metres — the same size as the field below!
• A fabric roof section that retracts into the centre of the opening, where it’s hidden inside of a pod above the videoboard.
• Each support mast measures 47 metres tall. All together, the structure is like 18 suspension bridges, each around 200 metres long.
• It is much more energy efficient than the original roof, saving 25 percent on energy costs (or about $350,000 per year).
• It takes just 20 minutes to fully retract the entire roof!

To help celebrate the newly refurbished stadium, the B.C. Lions christened the space with a match up against the Edmonton Eskimos this past Friday, September 30. They ‘kicked off’ a whole new era for one of this city’s main entertainment hubs. As the official hotel chain of the B.C. Lions, we wanted to celebrate this homecoming as well, and decided to treat fans to a particularly unique viewing experience. For the first time ever, two lucky fans were chosen to watch the game from the sidelines, in one of our beds! Fans received a bathrobe and slippers to snuggle into, while taking in the game from one of the closest vantage points of all!

Jordan and Julia Ortillan, cozied up to watch the Leos take on the Eskimos, September 30.

And it’s not just the new roof/stadium that’s worth checking out! On the west side of BC Place, at the Beatty Street entrance, the new memorial to Terry Fox is front and centre. Earlier this month, renowned novelist and visual artist Douglas Coupland unveiled his project, honouring a true Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist. alongside the Premier and members of Terry’s Fox family.

The new Terry Fox Memorial, located outside of the Beatty Street entrance to BC Place Stadium.

As you can see in the photo, it is a series of four sculptures of him running, each one getting increasingly larger. The size progression represents the growth of his legacy since his iconic ‘Marathon of Hope’ ended in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1981. When Terry was forced to end the run due to his cancer, he had raised $1.7m dollars. The first Terry Fox Run, in 1981, raised $3.5 million dollars; to date, over $500 million dollars has been raised, total. The sculptures all have him facing west, depicting his journey from St. John, Newfoundland to Victoria, B.C. When asked about the legacy of Terry Fox, Coupland hopes that this art piece will continue to inspire people the way Terry himself did, 30 years ago. “Sometimes we all feel like we’re just one more person here on Earth — Why does anything matter? Why do any of us bother going on?” said Coupland. “But the fact is that we do go on and all of us matter, and maybe if we follow the example of choosing the more difficult choice, our lives might take on meaning greater than we might ever have dared to hope.”

If you’re planning on heading to any future games, be sure to watch the screens for our Sandman bed! Join us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to find out how you can win yourself seats on the Sandman bed for the next home game!