Editor: Re: Staff shortage and housing not mutually exclusive.
I think we need a change in our perspective on this issue: we need to differentiate between the needs of long-term employees in the hospitality industry and short-term help.
Let’s start with long-term employees and ask ourselves one question: What are we doing to compete for the long-term employees living in other mountain towns?
Every mountain town from Aspen, Colorado to Whistler B.C. has employees doing the exact same jobs with the exact same experience and, for all our espousing competition with other resorts for tourism, we don’t seem to have any desire to entice the workforce.
Imagine a scenario where we could actively advertise that we offer accommodation others don’t, a place that meets the needs of the workforce.
Maybe we offer micro apartments for singles that have proper sound proofing. Maybe we offer micro condos that are priced affordably for those who wish to step up to something they can own (for those of you wondering, a micro apartment is usually between 250 and 400 square feet, or roughly enough space for one adult).
The tiny house movement fits this description, but perhaps ironically these dwellings once had a more outdoorsy name – cabins. Interestingly, said units actually exist in Banff, though perhaps not in the way one might think.
To see one, simply visit certain hotels on Tunnel Mountain and ask the front desk attendant to show you the free standing rooms at the rear of the lot. Yes, that is correct – they are currently used as hotel rooms, but are essentially rented cabins. I could live in one – place for car, barbecue, and walking paths not too far away – it’s actually a fairly stereotypical mountain lifestyle.
Many of our historical founders/trailblazers lived this way – in a cabin in the woods.
I believe the lifestyle would be much more marketable as a ‘cabin,’ which at least sounds like it belongs in the woods near a mountain.
The term tiny house is a little too city/urban – for me anyway (I wonder if the people promoting the idea in Canmore ever saw the irony).
I suppose I’m a dreamer, but I do wonder how BLLT plans on offering visitors the kind of experience they insist is possible (Leslie Bruce set out “a target goal for BNP of reaching 75 per cent in a Net Promoter Score” in the April 21 edition) when they don’t have access to higher quality help – or any for that matter.
In summary, we should be asking the questions that will tell us why people leave Bow Valley and in the future we should address those issues.
As for short-term help – I like the micro apartments idea as they can be presented as a small step up from staff accommodation, while still being very affordable. This concept is actually being tried in New York City, of all places, so maybe we should look into it (it would essentially be a form of urban densification).
I hope the people of Banff take this opportunity to have their say on this issue, if only for the love of Banff and our unique and beautiful lifestyle.
Mike McIntosh Banff
