Real estate businesswoman Mia Carrier is working with Choice Hotels to offer a “suite” new stay for visitors in La Malbaie, Quebec
By Suzanne Bowness
The city of La Malbaie, located in the Charlevoix region just past Quebec City on the north shore of the St. Lawrence river, draws tourists from across North America and Europe for its natural landscapes, foodie scene, and recreation, such as whale watching and golf. For businesswoman Mia Carrier, the area was a natural place to invest in a hotel, an investment she was searching for as a way to diversify her family real estate portfolio by way of the hospitality industry.
Founded in 1981 by her parents, Carrier’s existing business successfully ran several apartment buildings in Quebec and Florida, so hotels seemed like a natural fit; with a head office in Quebec City and cottages nearby, so did La Malbaie. At the same time, Carrier wanted to be as smart about her strategy as she was about her location.
She knew she could shorten a huge learning curve by joining a franchise rather than starting a hotel as an independent business.
“I thought that partnering with a franchise would be a way to start on the right foot in the hospitality industry, to learn more about the good practices of the industry,” says Carrier. After joining the Choice Hotels Canada system and moving ahead with the Clarion Pointe brand, she says it’s been the right move for both the hotel and her new direction.
A brand that fit her plans
Carrier says she chose Clarion Pointe because of its modern design, which would help to attract the younger tourists who visit the area. Part of the Choice Hotels Canada system, which offers a variety of brands from the upscale Ascend Hotel Collection to the more value-driven Econo Lodge, Clarion Pointe is situated in the midscale space, along with well-known brands like Comfort and Quality. It focuses on a younger demographic through contemporary room styling, mural décor, and conveniences such as fitness facilities and healthy breakfast options on-site. Carrier’s location is no different, with photo murals depicting the nature and attractions of the local area and a breakfast area and lounge with large windows framing La Malbaie’s picturesque scenery.
“This was good for our market because La Malbaie and the Charlevoix region attract many tourists during the high season, in the summer months and also on the weekends. So those personal touches are interesting for this clientele. Also, being part of Choice Hotels Canada is a plus for business travelers who accumulate Choice Privileges rewards points and look for amenities like high-speed internet, TV casting from their mobile devices, continental breakfasts, and the fully-equipped gym,” says Carrier.
After purchasing the hotel in 2021, Carrier kept the business open while undertaking renovations during the slower winter season when fewer guests would experience the disruption. She had already developed a business plan for the hotel moving forward, and in exploring the option of franchising, discovered that the Clarion Pointe brand presented a lot of the ideas that she already had in mind.
After joining, Carrier completed a month of online training, which she says was a good introduction to the hospitality industry, as was the opportunity to meet the community of franchisees and advisors over videoconference.
A new vision comes to life
Since relaunching under the Clarion Pointe brand in September 2023, Carrier says things have gone smoothly, and she especially appreciates the support of having the franchisor on-call. Her favourite aspects of working with Choice Hotels Canada include the brand standards, a dedicated website where guests can book directly (saving the online travel agency website commission fees, although the hotel is also merchandized on those sites), the brand’s shared marketing programs and resources, in addition to Choice Privileges, a points-based rewards program for guests, which offers perks and benefits including member exclusive offers, personalized rewards and more. She also values the opportunity to join Choice’s revenue management program, ChoiceRM, which allows her the opportunity to meet with a revenue manager monthly to make sure the hotel’s rates are competitive, discuss market overviews, and strategize for overall optimal performance.
Choice Hotels Canada is also pleased with Carrier’s operation—the brand recently named her hotel as the 2024 Best New Entry: Conversion Upper Midscale/Midscale Brands in its prestigious annual Awards for Property Excellence (APEX).
A developer at heart
With 39 rooms, Clarion Pointe La Malbaie is relatively small, with a high season from June to October. Most of the visitors are from Quebec, but others come from Ontario and the eastern U.S., as well as France.
Daily operations are taken care of by an on-site general manager, and Carrier has staffed the business with trustworthy employees including a front desk clerk, breakfast attendants, and a housekeeping department. According to Carrier, hiring is one of the biggest challenges she’s faced in this new endeavour, but over the years, she’s constructed a successful team by hiring local employees, some foreign workers, and students enrolled in work-abroad programs from Europe.
Instead of working on the day-to-day operations, Carrier’s role as a franchisee is more about overseeing the big picture of all her businesses, including managing costs, preparing budgets, approving purchases, and arranging contracts with management personnel. She also manages parts of guest relations, organizes marketing and stays on top of the hotel’s brand presence. At her management office in Quebec City, Carrier works alongside her spouse, who is vice-president of operations. Other staff include human resources, accounting, and marketing teams.
Being arms-length from the new hotel venture means that she is careful to hire a good on-site team and to keep in touch regularly. “You need to be confident in the people you delegate to,” she says. “It’s a matter of developing systems so that you can delegate tasks but still receive reports that will confirm that things are going as you would expect them to go.”
Carrier says that for some franchisees, the reward is in the daily, face-to-face operations with customers. Her passion, however, lies in growing businesses and seeing them develop—or in this case re-develop—into a thriving operation. “That’s what I enjoy. I’m more of a developer at heart, so I like looking for new opportunities in the market. I like developing ideas and bringing them to the finish point,” she says, noting that she’s already invested in another hotel in La Malbaie and her team is currently working on renovations.
When it comes to hotels, Carrier says she’s already learned a lot about the sector, which is a more dynamic in its daily operations than the multi-residential side of her business. Thanks to both Carrier’s drive and her franchisor, her wish to grow quickly in the hotel industry is coming to fruition. “Hotels were new to us, so I figured, if we’re going to start in hotels, then why not learn from the best?” she says of her decision to choose Choice Hotels Canada. “Very experienced people who really know that domain.”
Learn more about franchising with Clarion Pointe® (Choice Hotels Canada Inc.)
