Alberta, Canada, may not be the first place people expect to find a boutique hotel with a theme inspired by the Irish author Oscar Wilde, but The Dorian is just that.
In downtown Calgary, the largest city in the Alberta province, the hotel is named after Wilde’s philosophical novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” published in 1890.
Wilde’s novel famously played with notions of duality — the distinction between the self we present to the world and our private identity— and The Dorian hotel's design and service is also rooted in this theme.
That’s because The Dorian, which is a franchise within the Autograph Collection Hotels by Marriott International, is actually in the same building as a Courtyard by Marriott. The latter hotel occupies the base of the building, while the former is perched on the floors above. Marriott describes its Autograph Collection Hotels as unique hotels that offer distinctive designs and individual signature experiences, while Courtyard represents Marriott’s more affordable and consistent counterpart. In total, the two hotels contain 306 rooms.
The hotel complex was developed by the PBA Group of Companies, a full-spectrum real estate firm based in Calgary, and is managed by Concord Hospitality, a hotel management, ownership and development company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, which has approved operator status with Marriott International.
Two-Faced
The Dorian's theme was chosen to honor Joe Phillips, founder of PBA, whose favorite book was “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” His daughter Patricia Phillips, CEO and chairwoman of PBA, created the hotel in his memory.
Dorian Gray was a fictional character who lived two lives. “By day, he was a very upstanding British citizen, but at night he got up to an array of unsavory activities,” said Ian Jones, complex general manager at The Dorian and Courtyard Calgary Downtown, who oversees the day-to-day operations of both hotels.
In the book, a portrait of Dorian is painted by his friend Basil Hallward, who is obsessed by the former’s beauty. Dorian ends up selling his soul so that his face never changes and remains handsome forever, yet the painting changes over time and becomes increasingly ugly.
“One of the elements of the Autograph Collection hotel is that they all have what we call ‘Mark of the Craft,’” Jones said. “And [this hotel’s] particular marker is a [digital] picture of Dorian Gray that sits in our lobby and is constantly changing. It would change from Dorian being good-looking to Dorian having the face of a skeleton, and all of it is driven by our guests.”
Guests have access to a QR code in their room that leads to a page where they can make an anonymous confession. After their contribution, they can then see other patrons’ revelations. “As guests read these other confessions, they get to rate: ‘Is this confession acceptable or is it deplorable?’” Jones said. The more that the guests rate them negatively, the more Dorian’s face turns into a skeleton.
The Dorian design was done by Chil Interior Design and was inspired by both Victorian whimsy and Albertan references. “The corridor carpet is a combination of the wild rose of Calgary and a British tartan, bringing Oscar Wilde and Alberta together,” Jones said.
In the rooms, floral wallpaper matches the upholstered sofas, and they include items such as record players and decorative mannequins, as well as retro beverage and snack carts. “There are so many little touch points that were really thought through that guests pick up on and comment on,” Jones noted.
Two For One
Like its namesake, there are two sides to the hotel complex, as The Dorian and the Courtyard Calgary Downtown coexist in the same building and appeal to different audiences. “With the Autograph Collection, we can have a lot of fun, like we are going to have a drag afternoon tea on our outdoor patio,” Jones said. “We get that freedom to play with the Autograph Collection brand, which we don’t get in the Courtyard by Marriott brand because it’s very set.”
It is one of the reasons the hotels are under the same roof, with the Courtyard by Marriott on the lower end of the building. They are run as two distinct hotels, with each having its own entrance, front desk and social media presence.
“We are the only hotel in Calgary that can come forward and speak to different demographics within the same building,” Jones said. “The benefit to a Courtyard guest is that you get the consistency that you know and love, and you have the benefit of going to any of the three restaurants that are on the Autograph side as well, so it’s kind of the best of both worlds.”
From a business perspective, having two hotels in the same building facilitates tasks such as housekeeping. From a hotel guest perspective, it allows access to more restaurants and amenities.
“It’s a win-win experience for both,” Jones said. “If you want the unique experience, you stay in the Autograph, but if you want consistency and you’re on business or you’re here with your family, then the Courtyard is your option.”
The dual-branded hotel business model has taken off in recent years. Marriott opened a dual-branded property this fall in Dortmund, Germany, and another one in downtown Los Angeles last April. More are planned, including one in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which is set to launch in 2024.
“I think that we’re going to see more dual-branded properties because it allows us to talk to a wider audience,” Jones said.
The other reason both hotels are under the same roof is the limited land available in Calgary’s downtown core.
“It used to be a parking lot that our ownership group owned, and they decided to build on that space,” Jones said. “We didn’t have width, [but] we had height, so we built a 27-floor building.”
The Work Is Never Done
The hotel opened in July 2022, but the work is never done. “When you sit down and you create a hotel, you think, ‘We will do this restaurant and this café, excellent, let’s do that,’ and then we open, and we see how the public responds to it, and what our guests say,” Jones said.
PBA is looking to tweak and adjust services offered to guests, and Jones is very involved in these new enhancements. On the 27th floor of The Dorian is The Wilde, a fine dining establishment known for its high-end cuisine which is particularly popular with locals. It has a capacity of about 50 seats, plus an outdoor patio that seats about 12 people. To create more seats and another type of ambience, a private dining room is being added to the restaurant.
On the second floor is Bistro Novelle, an all-day restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It will be converted into an upscale sports bar, with new table designs, a pool table and more TVs.
Prologue, a lobby coffee shop by day and bar by night, is also going through some changes. It is turning into an upscale dessert destination for hotel guests and locals.
“Prologue and Bistro, I would say, are still finding their way, and they are mostly supported by our hotel guests,” Jones said. “But I think that once we make these little changes in both of these outlets, we’ll start to attract some of that local business in.”
Local business is also found in private events such as weddings, with 3,000 square feet of function space that includes a ballroom that can be divided into three sections. There is also a slew of public events such as “Get smoked at the Dorian,” which was organized for Father’s Day and offered smoked meat, smoked cocktails and cigars on the patio.
More events are planned in the outdoor space, such as ice bars in the winter.
“We are going to continue having a lot of fun and play with that space and drive awareness to The Dorian to be known as the fun, cool, hip place to experience food and beverage,” Jones said.
Not only that, but The Dorian is making its reputation as the place where guests can feel Oscar Wilde’s spirit right in the center of Alberta’s metropolis.
“Calgary is a great city right now, it’s taking off from a hotel aspect,” Jones said. “We have a brand-new conference center coming next year, which will be the largest in Western Canada; we have an arena coming for our hockey team and we are here to benefit from it all.”