The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Few businesses are as synonymous with Flin Flon as the Royal Hotel. Now this downtown landmark is in for an overhaul courtesy of its ambitious new owners. 'We're hoping we can do as good (as the last owners) and make it a little bit better,' says David Kravitz, who owns the hotel along with brother Igal and cousin Alon Shkolnik-Atkin. The men have already started renovations to modernize the hotel's 38 guest rooms, something that hasn't been done in decades. Ongoing work will include fresh paint along with new carpeting, furniture and beds. Already the rooms have been outfitted with coffeemakers, fridges and microwaves, essentials that had been missing. When the work is complete _ and there's no firm date for that just yet _ ownership plans a major advertising campaign to remind visitors that, yes, downtown Flin Flon has good accommodations. It all means a substantial investment, but Kravitz says the owners are eager to elevate the hotel's profile. 'For us, the most important thing is service,' he says. 'We want to make sure that our customers come happy and leave happy.' No strangers to the industry, the Kravitz brothers and Shkolnik-Atkin bought the Royal Hotel from the Novak family this past January. The Kravitz brothers had previously owned hotels in the Manitoba towns of Gimli and Altona. Shkolnik-Atkin owned a hotel in Winnipeg and ran another one in Pickle Lake, Ontario. The men love not only the hotel business, but also the chance to work together. 'We feel that there isn't a better mesh for us than the three of us,' says Kravitz. Investment When the men first toured the Royal, they knew it would be the perfect joint investment. 'When we saw this place we fell in love and decided this would be one of our next ventures,' Kravitz says. The men, who also own a hotel in the U.S., draw much satisfaction from doing business in smaller communities. 'We really like the personal touch that we have with the customer,' Kravitz says, 'and we are aware that in this kind of industry, service is the most important thing.' The owners all live in Winnipeg but take turns coming to Flin Flon for one-week stretches to manage the hotel and oversee its improvements. Kravitz is full of praise for the Novak family that operated the hotel for 48 years prior to the sale. All changes, he says, will be for the better. What hasn't changed is the Royal Hotel employees, led by manager Joanne Herrmann, all of whom kept their jobs when ownership changed hands. Kravitz says he, his brother and cousin enjoy Flin Flon immensely and look forward to doing business here for a long time to come. 'We're getting a great vibe from the community,' he says.
