Alt Hotel offers eco-friendly, affordable rooms in downtown Winnipeg

Alternative and eco-friendly. No frills and Chic.

Those are just a few of the terms the new Alt Hotel in downtown Winnipeg uses to describe the atmosphere of their building.

Built in the SHED district of Winnipeg, directly across Portage Avenue from the MTS Centre, the newly-completed, 15-storey building boasts 160 rooms to offer guests an experience with a twist. 

When you look at the outside of the building, it's hard to tell where the hotel begins and ends.

Liane Reeves, general manager the Alt Hotel Winnipeg, said this is all part of the Alt model. 

"It's a multi-use building, which is an Alt model that they've used across Canada, where there's office space, there's restaurants, there's the hotel, so there's different kinds of things going on in different parts of the building, so we are just part of that building," Reeves said.

Lobby

Walk through the doors of the Alt Hotel and you are greeted by a giant, colourful wall that's impossible to miss. It features 2,000 photos by local photographer Bryan Scott.

The photos were gathered and complied into a giant collage that is not unique to Winnipeg: Each Alt Hotel across the country has the same wall, but with photos from that city. 

Wood and wicker is the theme in the lobby and throughout the hotel, each floor having it's own colour theme. 

Rooms

As soon as you walk into your room, you are greeted by a floor to ceiling window allowing for tons of natural light.

The modern bathroom with a rainfall glass shower is complete with refillable toiletries and a dual flush toilet.

The double bed is lined by natural cement walls, and accented by a unique corner chair with arms that bend in or out to hold your laptop or to turn into a loveseat. 

"You can see that our style is modern and chic and minimal," Reeves said.

"There is nothing in this room that you don't need as a traveller, but there is nothing in this room that you need and don't have."

It's all in the details, with simple things like bedside plugs and light switches.

Automatic lights turn on with your room key card, and when the card is removed, turn off after two minutes.

Another unique feature of Alt Hotels is that everything in the rooms is available for purchase online, from the cool corner chair to the sheets on the bed, to the toiletries in the bathroom. 

Once completed, local artwork from Cliff Eyland, will compliment the rooms. 

Eco-friendly

The entire building is heated and cooled using geothermal technology, and water is heated that way, too. 

While looking for suppliers, the Alt Hotel chose as many refillable, recyclable and reusable products as possible. The cleaning products are biodegradable and friendly to the environment. 

Water conservation is key, and all rooms have dual flush toilets. Huge thermal windows line the rooms, supplying natural light with low emissions. 

This hotel has no doorman, no room service and no valets. That way, costs are kept low, but hotel staff will assist guests to find what they need. 

"If we wanted to have valet and doorman and room service and things like that, the rate would have to go up and we thought rather than that, we would have extra helpful staff at the front desk who will help you with your bags, and who will let you know what's going on in the city and keep our rate low," Reeves said.

A challenge to build

Construction of the hotel started around 2013, but Winnipeg winters posed challenges along the way.

"Because of last winter [2013-2014] and how cold it was, we did have to shut down the site for that amount of time, but it's been about two years that the building was being built in total," Reeves said. 

"It was just so cold and there was no walls. We couldn't ask people to work in minus 50, unfortunately."

Those behind the Alt Hotel believe the expansion of the convention centre and a shortage of downtown hotel rooms means there is demand in Winnipeg for what the Alt is offering — affordable hotel rooms in the area. 

"There weren't hotels out there that had high style, high levels of service but a lower rate for people to actually be able to afford them, so that's how they created the Alt," Reeves said.

The Alt Hotel and a new restaurant, the Merchant Kitchen, run by Bobby Mottola of Pizzeria Gusto, will open at the end of April 2015. 

The price for a one-night stay? $149. Bring your dog for an extra $30.