Thunder Bay, Ont. — Ownership of the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre has changed hands having been sold to Naagaaniiyang Limited Partnership.

For more than 30 years, the hotel was owned by Brandon-based hotel management company Genesis Hospitality, which made the announcement of the sale this week.

Kevin Swark, executive president of Genesis Hospitality, says the hotel chain decided it was the right time to sell the hotel which they continued to develop and grow to meet new guest’s needs since 1993.

“Our growth came in stages,” Swark said. “When we bought the hotel it was in need of renovation. We renovated it and our occupancy went up. We added the restaurant for more of a family style with great chicken wings, great prime rib, . . . and our occupancy went up from there. We added the waterslide and our occupancy grew again. So we had about three stages where we increased our business levels at that property.”

The Victoria Inn has seen some celebrities over the years and was host to acclaimed American singer songwriter George Thorogood and Babe Winkelman, an American sportsman, bass fisherman and television producer.

For almost 10 years, the hotel has provided food services to Fort William Historical Park. “The Victoria Inn was the official caterer to all the food services at the Fort,” Swark noted. “We served all the weddings that were there and we ran the canteen in the summer. That was a fairly long contract.”

With Thunder Bay deemed a mining hub in Northwestern Ontario, Swark said at some point they would like to come back into this marketplace.

“It’s a strong market,” he said. “I come to Thunder Bay on a regular basis and when I landed there last Tuesday, that was the busiest I have ever seen that airport. It was wall to wall people. I have never seen that (here) and you could tell it was from the mining sector, which is fantastic for the city of Thunder Bay.”

Swark expressed his gratitude to the hotel’s management team for their dedication and commitment to providing exceptional client service and hospitality. He also recognized the Thunder Bay community for supporting the hotel since December of 1993.

Genesis Hospitality Inc. owns and operates 11 hotels in Brandon, Winnipeg, Flin Flon, Hamilton, Mississauga, Vaughan, Edmonton, and Red Deer and has been serving guests in the hotel business for more than 40 years. The chain is a 15-Year Platinum Member of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, with more than 1,000 employees in three provinces.

The New owner, Naagaaniiyang Limited Partnership, could not be reached for comment.

Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal