Well, actually, the brand new 5-star Ritz-Carlton Toronto put Six String Nation on at their pre-opening pep rally for staff.
While the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal opened in 1912, it's actually a legacy name (there were others in North America as well, built in the image of the Ritz in Paris and the Carlton in London) and not managed by the same group running the Ritz-Carlton chain today. The opening of the Ritz-Carlton Toronto marks the the official return of the brand to Canada. Another hotel for Vancouver will follow soon.
I was asked to speak to the staff earlier today as they reviewed their training and prepared for the official opening of the hotel tomorrow - February 16th. The theme of my talk was "Making History" in that - in the same way that Voyageur not only contains many histories but makes its own history all the time by engaging with Canadians in a multitude of ways - the staff of the hotel were not only connected with each other and the legacy of the brand but would go on to help guests celebrate their own historic occasions and make their own indelible memories of their time at the hotel.
Staffers Sudheer, Mitzi and Ahmed (pictured) provided the presentation finale.
Special thanks to GM Tim Terceira, Danielle Saint-Louis, Rainer Zinngrebe, Valerie Porter, Melanie Adams, Matthew Gdyczynski, Michael Heath, Tom Brodi and all the staff at Ritz-Carlton Toronto. And thanks to David Nowak for the introduction.
Posted at 4:18 PM