Four years after a fire, this iconic Kenora waterfront hotel is welcoming guests again

A Kenora landmark that was damaged by smoke in 2020 is now open for business again.

The Clarion Lakeside Inn and Conference Centre is back to welcoming guests after extensive repairs and renovations. 

"I don't know how to describe this feeling," said Jimmy Koo, the site's general manager.  "We put in so much effort and time, and finally it's open." 

Koo recalled the day in January 2020 when he got a call from the kitchen in the hotel's famous top-floor restaurant telling him there was smoke in the air.

"And then, the next thing is I can see smoke coming out from under the building," he said. "And then we have to evacuate."

There was no actual fire damage to the hotel, but the smoke damage was so severe that the interior had to be stripped down to the bare concrete, he said. 

Management initially thought that the hotel might reopen after a couple of months, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant delays.

The kitchen is still not complete, meaning that the restaurant and lounge won't reopen until the spring or summer, Koo said. 

And workers are still installing audio-visual equipment in the conference rooms.

But the hotel is now booking guests into its newly-renovated rooms again, and that's great news for the local economy, said Stace Gander, the director of economic development and tourism for the City of Kenora.

"When we don't have a major hotel like the Clarion online, it affects our tourism, it affects our sport tourism, and it effects rentals for businesses that are looking to travel and have people stay overnight for business," he said. "So having 90 to 100 rooms come back online in Kenora is a really big deal for us."

The city lost conference business as a result of the closure, and hockey tournaments were smaller because there weren't as many places for teams to stay, Gander said.

The loss of hotel rooms also impact people hoping to get married in Kenora. 

The reduction in tourists, in turn, impacted other local businesses such as restaurants and bars.

Gander called the hotel's top-floor restaurant overlooking the lake "a destination" and said it's the kind of place people travel to to propose to a partner or celebrate a special event.

"It's part of the Kenora experience to be on the lake and to see the lake," he said. "And the Clarion is a big part of that."