|
|
March 24, 2006
B&B offers best of the best
An old apartment building, Abigail's graduates to boutique hotel.
BAILA LAZARUS
What's your pleasure when it comes to getaways? A luxurious leather
couch in front of a fireplace in the privacy of your room? A three-course
gourmet breakfast? Huge soaker tubs with jets? A spa that offers
Jelly Bath treatments? How about opulent five-star accommodations
with a homey bed-and-breakfast feel?
Ask and you shall receive at Abigail's, a stunningly appointed bed-and-breakfast
in the heart of Victoria.
Built as an apartment complex in the 1930s, the heritage building
took on a few different forms over the years, becoming a hotel in
1985 and finally being bought and renovated by Ellen Cmolik in 2003.
Her love of travel and taste for décor is reflected in the
details: large, flat eight-inch or 12-inch "rainshower"
shower heads; luxurious fabrics and rich colors; free-standing cast-iron
tubs; an outdoor patio and garden perfect for weddings; a sumptuous
library/common room where guests gather for glasses of wine in the
evening.
The property is particularly unique because it combines the look
and feel of a luxury hotel with the cosiness of a B&B. At 23
rooms in two buildings, it is the largest B&B in the Victoria
area. That means guests get their own bathrooms and don't feel like
they're sleeping in someone else's empty nest. But they still get
to gather for a sociable breakfast of buttermilk waffles, Italian
omelettes, croissants and muffins that come with friendly conversation
with other out-of-towners, as well as the daily weather forecast
on each plate.
"We're really good for female corporate travellers," said
Cmolik, "because they feel much more comfortable in a small
hotel; everybody talks to each other."
Cmolik also adds the personal touch of creating special weekend
getaways that combine accommodation and breakfast at her hotel with
activities around the city. The Honeymoon Getaway, for example,
includes a room, a welcoming cheese-and-wine tray and a spa treatment
at Abigail's with dinner in town and a horse-drawn carriage ride
or limousine city tour. Abigail's is perfectly situated, right in
the heart of downtown, a 10-minute walk to the harbor, the Victoria
conference centre, shopping and night life, as well as tourist draws
such as the Royal London Wax Museum, the Royal B.C. Museum, the
Empress Hotel and access to whale-watching tours and ferries to
Port Angeles and Seattle.
Recently, Cmolik has created full-weekend, in-house package getaways:
in March, Abigail's hosted its first Understanding Wine weekend
with University of British Columbia Prof. David McArthur. The two-day
course taught an introduction to wine basics, with lectures and
daily wine tastings right in the hotel. It's a program they plan
to repeat yearly.
Coming up in April is the Simply Wellness weekend – a retreat
for women to relax, rest and reinvigorate, facilitated by local
educator and author Dr. Donna VanSant. She is the founding director
of the Organizational Health Partnership Assembly, a not-for-profit
society supporting workplace health initiatives. The retreat takes
place Friday, April 21, to Sunday, April 23. The $600 fee includes
accommodation, meals, facilitated sessions and spa treatments.
Other projects on the horizon include special tea ceremonies that
will follow in the traditions of countries where taking tea has
become a matter of ritual, such as in India, Japan and Russia.
And in a particularly imaginative search for one more reason to
have a party, Cmolik has been trying to contact all the previous
tenants of the building who lived in the apartments prior to 1985.
She's already had some success, with people who she has contacted
stopping in to say hi and see what has happened to the rooms in
which they once lived.
No doubt they won't recognize the place, due to the many renovations
it has undergone. Cmolik herself is constantly looking for ways
to improve the experience of customers at her hotel.
"The average person goes to a hotel expecting it to be better
than their house," said Cmolik. "The bar's always rising,
so you always have to continually renew – you're always trying
to impress."
Her latest additions are air-conditioning, wireless Internet and
the new Pearl Spa room, where treatments include traditional aromatherapy
and shiatsu techniques, as well as the new-to-the-North-American-market
Jelly Bath, a powder that, when added to hot water, creates a jelly-like,
aromatic mixture. Have you always fantasized about soaking in your
favorite Jell-O? Now's your chance. Choose between strawberry, lavender,
milk, lemongrass and mint.
For more information on Abigail's, visit www.abigailshotel.com
or call 1-800-561-6565.
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and
illustrator living in Vancouver. Her work can be seen at www.orchiddesigns.net.
^TOP
|
|
