From the deep harbour waters Prince Rupert lives above, a recognizable emblem of the Kaien Island landscape sits like a jewel in the forested frame of the crowning cliffside and reigns above the rail lines that feed the city’s industry.
For 62 years, The Crest Hotel has been the insignia of corporate business or community functions, home to the Murray/Smith family and partners, and home away from home for many travellers or those in need of lodging.
As with any family on their life’s pathway or in the evolution of commercial endeavours, every journey has a point of settlement and resolution. The recent sale of the dynastic establishment to the Gitxaala Enterprise Corporation may turn a leaf in the deep-rooted chronicles of hotel life thus finishing a chapter for the players on the pages. However, the cover remains open with tales and anecdotes to keep the flame of heartfelt memories ignited as smiles on the faces of owners Steve Smith, his wife Tina and their business partner Scott Farwell.
It was Tina’s dad, Bill Murray, with his two partners, Tony Bussanich and Percy Knutson that first conceptualized the original 44-unit motel, which has today evolved into a 107-guest room, Four Star Select Canada property. It has maintained that rating for more than a quarter of a century with a 96-seat restaurant, lounge bar, function rooms and parkade.
Murray arrived in Canada as a 12-year-old boy with a thick Scottish accent, wearing brogue shoes and woollen stove pipe trousers. He quickly acclimated to the ways of the coastal town. He bonded as lifelong comrades with Bussanich, a little Italian boy who lived down the street.
The two spent their youth embarking on idyllic boyhood adventures together before heading off to the tumult of World War 2.
Upon return from the conflict, Murray started working in forestry during the day. At night he balanced the books for the Royal Canadian Legion, which was situated on the site of the current-day Chances Casino at the intersection of Second Ave. and Bill Murray Drive.
In the mid to late 1950s, Prince Rupert had hit its adolescence, with more growth expected. The announcement that the Alaska Ferry was extending its route to the city had business abuzz with sights of a booming tourism industry.
With the unserviced, blank plot of land next to the Legion up for sale, Murray purchased it in 1958 with his vision set on the hospitality industry, his daughter, Tina Smith, said.
“My father was a visionary with a dream of building a first-class hotel with all of its amenities in Prince Rupert,” she said.
For two years, Murray and Bussanich attempted to secure zoning and financing but received rejection after rejection.
“They couldn’t get any financing from the banks,” said Murray’s son-in-law, Steve Smith. “They started writing to the life insurance companies. Great Westlife was in Winnipeg … the guys who looked at the plans said who are these bozos? They want to build this hotel right beside the railway. Someone’s going to walk out the front door and get hit by a train.”
Once it was pointed out that the flat paper plans did not show a cliff face and that the rail lines ran 100 feet below the land, the insurance company immediately agreed to finance, having now recognized the gem of a location for tourist accommodation.
The construction of the original motel took about two years, with Murray providing the financial backing for the lumber and construction materials. Bussanich and Knutson supplied the plumbing, mechanical and electrical components.
Smith recounted the story of Murray driving to the Terrace mill with a suitcase packed full of cash to pay upfront for the project’s lumber.
“That’s how business was done back then,” Smith said.
When the Crest Motor Hotel officially opened on Oct. 1, 1961, Tina said she remembers watching her father symbolically throw away the key to the front door.
After just three years, with business booming and a growing hospitality market, the two-floor, west-facing motel spread to 60 rooms. A few years after that, further growth was needed, Smith said, and the 60 rooms spread to 80 with a dining room and lounge which today displays tartans, family crests and stag heads as an ode to Murry’s Scottish heritage. The hotel and restaurant became the diamond of Northern B.C. with live music, silver-service dining and specialty dishes like Steak Diane and Ceasar salad prepared table side.
“It was really high-class dining,” Smith said. However, it was not a financial success and the business lost $20,000 in the restaurant during the first year.
“When I took over in 1987, we had 20,000 people stay in the hotel. We did over $1 million in food and we lost $100,000. It was cheaper for me to give everybody $5.00 and tell them to go eat somewhere else. It was pretty scary.”
Smith said the food industry is tough — it needs “real commitment” and volume. But, after several years, they did manage to turn it around and make it profitable.
“You have got to get the right menu items that people want. You have got to be listening and you’re always only as good as the last meal you served,” said the long-time owner, adding he was reluctant to take over the family business when in it was offered.
The hotel industry in Prince Rupert had taken a hit with the $11.3 million construction of the Highliner Hotel, resulting in a $3 M sale and the Moby Dick for similar, he said.
“It was not a good climate for selling a hotel because the banks were taking a pretty big bath,” he said, adding he advised Murray to sell the hotel as Smith was busy with a partnership in a retail establishment.
With the unionization of hotel staff and the business manager retiring, Smith, who worked in the men’s wear business for 20 years, warily agreed to take on the hospitality business.
“So, I went from inseams to inn-keeping,” he laughed, adding he had been an alderman, been on the district council, been in business and wanted to try something else new while he was still young enough.
“I shook my father-in-law’s hand and said I’ll try it for a year. At the end of the year, I can walk away with no hard feelings.”
The caveat Smith included was that Murray stayed three months to offer guidance and mentorship.
“I knew marketing. I knew books, but I didn’t know hotels. I wanted to learn from the best. He came Dec. 15 and walked out mid-January. I said, hey, you can’t leave. He said, if you need something, call me - I’ll be in Maui.”
Bill Murray died just three years later after leaving his legacy in Prince Rupert of being an MLA, Speaker in the legislature, founder of the Crest Hotel and having a street named after him. Tina and Steve purchased the hotel to keep it in the family.
Thirty-six years on, after a third expansion, hotel remodel to 107 rooms, extended dining room and “exponential changes,” Smith is finally toasting his own fond memories packed in the suitcase of his heart.
He said the changes worked by “merchandising” the business. He brought in a new point-of-sale system to modernize ordering. He took care of inventory. He changed the room booking system from old ledger books to computers. He introduced a new draft beer from Fosters in Australia, which no one else served. He marketed it in a unique tall glass known as the “Crest Size” glass.
He admits the change in beer was more for safety due to the different keg taps. At the time, North American beers had a bung in the top of the keg that had to be banged out. He was worried about it flying into a staff member’s eye or knocking out a tooth. The Fosters kegs didn’t have the same type of tap.
“That gave us a distinctive beer. It wasn’t done because I wanted to be distinctive,” he said but the change did give them a unique edge.
In the beginning, because he wasn’t interested in “going there” into the hospitality industry, he said he went in with different eyes.
“I went in as a customer. What a customer sees and what a manager sees are two different things.”
He said the washrooms have been torn back to the studs twice on “his watch,” and he doesn’t want to do it a third time, but the memories will stay with him, such as the pictures on the ladies’ room wall.
He told the tale of delaying the men’s washroom renovations for about five years and finally had to acquiesce after staff were hounding him. He wanted something different for the men’s room, so he placed TVs above the urinals. He said some ladies have complained.
“The men got TVs because they’re quick. If you put TVs in the ladies’ washroom, they’d be there for an hour and a half watching their program.”
As a joker who likes to play pranks on family, friends and staff, he had payback after returning from a trip away.
“When I came back, there was a letter on my desk from Buckingham Palace. The original letter is framed in the ladies’ room behind the door,” he said. The staff were so relieved the washrooms had been completed.
“They wrote to the Queen of England and invited her to the grand opening of the ladies’ loo in Prince Rupert.”
“I said, game on,” and he upped the ante.
Smith advertised an official grand opening with Queen Elizabeth in attendance. Dinner with ‘Her Majesty’ was sold for $100 a plate. Steve’s dad was in the Navy and dressed in his medals, the Crest parking lot was full of people when a limo pulled up.
‘The Queen’ got out wearing her gown, long white gloves, complete with a crown on her head, making the announcement that she and Prince Philip were on their way to Hong Kong when they had to land the plane for mechanical reasons. Remembering that Mr. Smith had invited her to the opening of the loo, she thought she would take the opportunity to stop by.
While the queen was actually an impersonation actor, the money from the evening was donated to breast cancer survivors, who in turn provided the pictures still hanging on the walls of the ladies’ washrooms today.
While the hotel sale had been in confidential negotiations for some time, it was completed on April 11, with property transfer on May 1. Steve said he is not retiring and has other properties and businesses in Prince Rupert. Both Smith and Farwell have signed two-year consulting contracts with Gitxaala to make the transition a smooth one.
“My wife says I’m in retirement denial. I’ve been retired for 10 to 15 years because we’ve had a really good team at the Crest. That’s why it was very thoughtful who we would sell the hotel to and to make sure it retained local ownership as much as possible.”
“We have the best at the Crest. Our guests receive the best from the Crest. We know the tradition of heartfelt, genuine hospitality and quality will continue with our new owners [Gitxaala Enterprise Corporation] at the helm,” the daughter of the hotel founder said.
