MARRIOTT HALIFAX HARBOURFRONT recently added 4,500 sq. ft. of meeting space and a Great Room—to the tune of $5.2 million.

“This is the first Marriott to build a Great Room concept in the market and only the third in Canada,” says Kelli Stutt, director of sales and marketing. “It features complimentary high speed internet access, power to enable customer’s devices, and a variety of seating styles to match individual or group needs.”

Other features in the works for this site include “open table” where guests can book reservations online; remote check-ins; and “red coat”—an application that will allow direct access between a meeting planner and the hotel’s red coat concierge, in real time.

THE FIRST ALT HOTEL in Atlantic Canada (an innovative no-frills-chic “alternative” hotel) opens this summer at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. The $27-million, 169-room hotel is connected to the airport via a short pedestrian walkway.

Brainchild of family-owned Groupe Germain, ALT Hotel boasts 10,000 sq. ft. of meeting space featuring a “creative lounge”—specifically designed to hold brainstorming sessions or informal meetings.

The company hosted a contest to produce an original work of art for the lobby of the hotel. “We received over 90,000 images,” says Stacey Mason, national director of communications, “and this installation is over four times more interactive than our hotel at Pearson Airport.”

Additional features at the Halifax site include: geothermal heating and cooling; card readers that turn off room lights when people leave; and soundproof windows to block plane noise.

REPLACING THE FORMER CITADEL HOTEL in Halifax, two new hotels, the Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton, joined by a 7,000 sq. ft. SilverBirch Conference Centre®, will open in spring of 2014.

The conference centre features a Connections Café®—the first high-tech hotel conference centre in the city to offer all-inclusive meeting packages with unlimited and all-day access to the Café, which, in turn, offers the latest in built-in technology such as high-definition event video conferencing, built-in LCD projectors, and touch screen panel for central controls and Wi-Fi.

Innovation came into play even in the demolition stage. For example, carpets, toilets, sinks, tubs and doors were all recycled; concrete rubble was sent to a facility where it was crushed and re-used; and items like furniture, kitchen and exercise equipment, were donated or sold.