When Bruno Lefebvre first floated his idea of launching a hotel on a lake a decade ago, he contacted neither realtor nor architect because his hotel would not be on a lake, it would be in a lake.
Lefebvre anchored his real estate dreams on creating an empire of short-term rental lodgings on small boats stationed on lakes around his home province of Quebec, with eventual plans to expand beyond provincial borders.
He embarked on this adventure by showering bureaucrats and insurance companies with pitches to help him with his splashy concept. But he was only hit with icy replies. “It was all very complicated,” Lefebvre told CoStar News. “The insurance was a big challenge because they didn't see the nautical category as profitable and they thought of my concept as a little too new.”
Lefebvre, who grew up in the suburban West Island area of Montreal, has been boating his whole life and has noticed that many Quebecers have an outsized love of the water, in spite of that water taking on an inconveniently frozen form for much of the year.
“Quebecers are a Latin people and generally quite emotional,” he said. “I’ve noticed that a lot of boaters here spend as much time on their boats during our short season as boaters do in Florida where they can go out all year.”
Lefebvre spent five years navigating the foggy waters of municipal permit approvals, making often-futile attempts to explain his unique plans to landlubbers unfamiliar with his nautical housing notions. Meanwhile, he hand-built six 24-by-40-foot houseboats and crossed his fingers in hopes that the municipality of Valleyfield would accept his proposal to launch his maiden stationary water hotels.
City council at the city southwest of Montreal gave Lefebvre the green light in 2018 on the condition that his project include no more than six units, remain docked in habour on public park property and get all required permits and insurance.
Once his first project was set afloat, Lefebvre found it less difficult to trickle to other lakes. He learned to strike deals for the docks by leveraging his popular online platforms and newsletter mailing list to promote other facilities on the properties and his site permitted visitors to reserve tables at nearby restaurants.
Nonetheless getting approved by municipalities remains a task that comes with varying degrees of complexity. “Some said ‘no problem’ and it was that simple. Others have kept us waiting seven years for approval.”
Along with his maiden operation in Valleyfield, Lefebvre now also owns water hotels in Thurso-Montebello, St. Jean sur Richelieu, Saint-Paul-De-L'île-Aux-Noix, and Saint-Blaise-Sur-Richelieu but he opted to make those projects smaller in size than his Valleyfield operation. Each of those projects consists of four boats measuring 40 by 16 feet.
Lefebvre’s Flotel concept has proved so popular that the aquatic accommodations stay open year-round, with reduced fares in winter months, while summertime bookings are often filled nine months in advance. He feels that he has only begun to skim the surface on the market for water-bound sleepovers and hopes to expand across Canada and into the Northern USA.
“But don't come if you get seasick,” he said.