Holloway Lodging Corporation has finalized its purchase of the downtown Whitehorse Westmark.
In a news release Monday the company announced its $9.8-million deal with Holland America to buy the 180-room hotel on Second Avenue.
It’s Holloway Lodging’s second hotel in Whitehorse. The company already owns the Days Inn.
Plans for the sale were announced earlier this year but many of the specific details were kept quiet until the deal was done.
As part of the agreement Holland America will use the Westmark hotel exclusively for all its accommodation needs in Whitehorse for at least the next three years, the news release says.
The agreement “is renewable and provides for room rate increases each year. It is anticipated that the seller will provide approximately 20 per cent of the Westmark’s total room nights in 2016 and subsequent years.”
The sale price was “substantially below the property’s replacement cost and further diversifies Holloway outside of oil and gas markets,” said Holloway’s chairman Michael Rapps in the statement.
“Moreover, we have negotiated an agreement with the seller that provides the hotel with significant base business in coming years. We expect both our Whitehorse hotels to perform well given the low Canadian dollar and the city’s focus on tourism.”
The hotel will keep its name despite the new ownership. In February, a Holland America representative said it would provide marketing support for the hotel but have no other operational ties.
The sale of the Westmark Whitehorse means Holland America no longer has a hotel in the territory’s biggest city.
It still runs Westmarks in Dawson City and Skagway.
The tour company has said it has no plans to cut back trips to the Yukon after selling the hotel.
This year Holland America is offering nearly 250 trips that include the Yukon. There are similar plans for 2017 and onward, the spokesperson said.