Howard Johnson hotel is no more

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This article was published 24/12/2009 (5989 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE city has again shut down a Polo Park hotel for fire-code violations and the Howard Johnson company has demanded that its signs be stripped from building.

Glen Blake, president of Howard Johnson Canada Franchise Systems, said the franchise agreement was terminated earlier this month after the hotel’s Vancouver-based owner repeatedly failed to bring the building up to fire code.

"We are saddened that the owner was not able to complete the required corrective action to satisfy our brand standards," Blake wrote in a statement Wednesday.

"Howard Johnson Canada has advised the owner that they are required to de-identify the property in accordance with provisions of the franchise agreement."

Meanwhile, Winnipeg fire inspectors barred the hotel’s doors for the second time in as many months Wednesday, forcing about nine guests to find lodgings elsewhere.

The hotel failed to comply with a list of repairs first ordered in November, including work on the boilers.

Even more disturbing, said Fire Prevention Director Peter Kloos, was some "inadvertent" information inspectors learned late Tuesday. The hotel’s fire alarm system hadn’t been monitored for weeks — a critical life-safety requirement and one of the original items on the hotel’s to-do list.

Kloos said hotel staff assured him the system was monitored, but a call to the monitoring company revealed the bill had not been paid and no one had been tracking the alarm system since Dec. 1.

Kloos said he’s also concerned the owner submitted falsified reports related to the fire-suppression system on kitchen-cooking equipment.

Kloos spoke to owner David Grewal on the phone during Wednesday’s shutdown, but said he heard only excuses.

"He said he’d have everything fixed today, but we’ve heard this over and over and over," Kloos said. "The games have continued for long enough."

Kloos said the hotel won’t be allowed to reopen until every one of the 19 repairs ordered has been completed.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

HoJo chronology

 

Nov. 27 — City fire inspectors shut down the hotel after it fails to fix 19 chronic code violations, including an inoperable fire alarm system and sprinklers, emergency exit signs that don’t illuminate, missing fire extinguishers and fire doors that won’t open. About 50 people are forced to find alternative lodgings.

Dec. 9 — Firefighters say enough of the serious problems have been corrected, but the province’s health inspectors are still unhappy.

Dec. 14 — The hotel is allowed to reopen its top two floors under strict conditions.

Dec. 23 — The hotel is closed again after lingering violations are not fixed and the city discovers the fire alarms have not been monitored for weeks.