Though annual Canada Day festivities have been derailed in the nation’s capital thanks to precautions surrounding the novel coronavirus, July 1 will see another Canadian institution in Ottawa come back online after the pandemic forced a months-long shutdown.
The Fairmont Château Laurier said Thursday it plans to reopen its hotel rooms, shops and dining areas to guests.
The iconic Ottawa hotel has been closed to guests since March 21 when businesses across Ontario were shuttering amid emergency orders surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
The 429-room hotel’s reopening will see new measures in place to curb the spread of the virus within its walls, including mandatory screening for guests and employees, masks available for visitors and a 48-hour “settling period” for rooms between each stay.
Though its patios are clear to open on July 1, the Château itself will likely not be filled with the same volume of tourists on Canada Day as years past.
Canadian Heritage announced back in April that Canada Day celebrations would be going virtual in 2020 rather than the typically extravagant party on Parliament Hill, a stone’s throw from the historic hotel.