'It’s been a long journey': New hotel opens its doors in St. Thomas, Ont. after years of delays

The second major chain hotel in St. Thomas is now open for business.

‘It’s been a long journey to make it this far, and we’re excited to welcome our first guests,” said Ken Price, general manager of St. Thomas’ Holiday Inn Express and Suites (HIES).

After a soft opening on Dec. 28, 2023, the HIES opened its doors, nearly four years after the initial announcement in 2019.

“We've got 95 guestrooms, five one-bedroom suites, which are really nice with kitchenettes,” explained Price. “We bring a little bit something different to the table.”

That “something different” is a swimming pool and fitness centre, which are about a week away from being ready for visitors.

Originally scheduled to open in 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to delaying the project.

The lobby of the new Holiday Inn Express and Suites in St. Thomas, Ont. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

The more than $15 million investment by Elgin Centre owner Jay Burnstein continues the revitalization of the mall which has recently added a JYSK store as an anchor.

The new hotel is great news for neighbouring businesses and those inside the mall.

“One of the advantages that we're going to be able to advertise over at the neighboring hotel,” said Joe Buttigieg, owner of Railway 1856 Ultimate Mini Golf.

He added, “That's something we haven't had so people who are staying there that perhaps were staying in London or elsewhere before will hopefully navigate over here.”

Buttigieg said the mall opened a few days ago, but they are already noticing an impact.

Joe Buttigieg owns Railway 1856 Ultimate Mini Golf in the Elgin Centre next to the Holiday Inn and Suites hotel in St. Thomas, Ont. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)“We've seen some evening traffic when we're open later than the mall hours,” said Buttigieg. “That's a good sign that people are navigating over from the hotel and playing already.”

Prior to the new hotel, the only options for visitors to the Railway City were the 77-room Comfort Inn and a few older motels in Talbotville.

The lack of rooms often drove visitors and sports teams to nearby London when St. Thomas would host soccer, hockey or baseball tournaments.

“For tournaments alone we bring in close to 2,000 families, which equates to between four-to-six thousand room nights for hotels,” said Chris Wilkins, a board member of St. Thomas Minor Baseball Association (STMBA).

Ken Price is the general manager of the new Holiday Inn Express and Suites in St. Thomas, Ont. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)He added, “It’s kind of nice to be able to accommodate a few more families in St. Thomas. You’ll get a little bit of spin off out of that which will generate maybe two or three meals a day that they're that they're going to have to purchase within the community.”

Wilkins said the organization which hosted and won an Ontario Baseball Association title last year has a good reputation with Baseball Ontario. They would like STMBA to host more tournaments, and another local hotel would really help that cause.

Price said his hotel did a study which showed St. Thomas was in need of extra rooms.

“St. Thomas is undergoing a period of great growth,” said Price. “A lot of the announcements came after we had already got the shovels in the ground here. With the new Volkswagen plant opening up, we just we think the whole area is going to do really well and we hope that we can contribute and be part of that.”