Where: Collingwood, Thornbury, Southampton and Sauble Beach, ON.  The trip starts and ends in Sudbury, ON.

When: May 5 - 7, 2025

What Will I Learn? This Best Practices Mission trip will take you behind-the-scenes for a deep dive into accommodation practices in the popular Collingwood, Ontario, area. Meet face-to-face with business owners and managers of small-scale operations to discuss all things accommodation and get insight into what makes their operations successful.

Areas of focus will include:

• The importance of first impressions
• Meeting consumer expectations
• Marketing and branding
• Capital infrastructure
• Practical improvements and physical upgrades
• How to adapt
• Becoming a year-round destination
• Social media and digital health
• Succession Planning
• The power of knowing your guests
• The power of simple, quality enhancements
• Strategies to manage renovations and costs
• Strategies to attract and retain staff
• Managing seasonal ebbs and flows
• The importance of cleanliness and comfort
• How to step outside your comfort zone

Who Should Attend? This BPM is designed specifically for owners, general/senior managers and operational/facility staff of fixed roof accommodations throughout Northern Ontario who want to improve the quality of their operation and their bottom line.

Community representative (e.g. City and Municipal staff) and Destination Marketing Organization representatives are also welcome, especially if you are accompanying operators from your area.

Why the Collingwood area?

There has been a ‘reno’ssance in the accommodation sector across Ontario specifically in the Bruce Grey Simcoe region (Collingwood) of Ontario.  Traditional roadside motels and Inns are being purchased and renovated to attract new markets, increase length of stay and positively impact seasonality. Several property success stories will be featured such as the Somewhere Inn Collingwood, Penny’s Motel in Thornbury and the June Motel in Sauble Beach.

Itinerary Highlights:

• Participate in presentations, panels and/or peer-to-peer exchanges with successful business owners and operators;

• Participate in a variety of unique on-site tourism experiences from a visitor perspective;

• Spend time with Northern Ontario colleagues; and

• Take home actionable tourism improvement ideas and tasks.

Who is Leading the Mission? Chris Hughes, BC Hughes Inc.

Chris Hughes is president and partner of BC Hughes Inc. a Destination Development, marketing and tourism management firm in Southwestern Ontario. Chris is meticulous about the little things that make great destinations. Signage and wayfinding, parking, customer service, washrooms, and maps are critical to making people happy and often are overlooked. Chris’ extensive experience working on the ground in tourism product development contributes to the firms combined 30 years of experience in destination development and management. Chris’ straightforward, realistic, approach, coupled with extensive Northern Ontario knowledge ensures you’ll take home a lot of little ideas you can easily implement in your own operation.

Cost: Participant Trip cost is $500 / individual. Participants must apply and have their applications approved before a link to payment will be sent.

This cost will cover all travel, accommodation, set meals and activity fees during the three-day trip. Additional discretionary spending will be the responsibility of participants. You are responsible for travel arrangements and related costs to/from Sudbury, Ontario.

You are responsible for your own transportation and costs for travel to and from Sudbury, Ontario

Deadline for Application: March 29th, 2024

For more information, contact: k.peacock@destinationnorthernontario.ca

Apply now!