Rosemead House is located in the township of Esquimalt and is one of the latest luxury boutique hotels to open on B.C.’s Vancouver Island. After a spring soft launch, the hotel officially opened in October to glowing reviews.Supplied/Aragon Properties
In the township of Esquimalt, a short trip from Victoria’s picturesque Inner Harbour, lies the recently opened Rosemead House – a stunning, 1906 Tudor Revivalist estate that has been transformed into a luxury boutique hotel.
The property underwent a $25-million, decade-long renovation that was led by Vancouver-based Aragon Properties, whose founder and president, Lenny Moy, purchased the estate and its surrounding 1.7 hectares in 2015. The land surrounding Rosemead House is being transformed into a new residential development called Oakwoods, and it will include 180 new homes.
“[Mr. Moy] fell in love with the property and its history and was excited to create something new in the hotel market,” says Rosemead House general manager Uwe Walter. “Every room is hand-curated by him and the design team. Antiques were brought in from all over the United Kingdom, along with pieces from the famous Dorchester hotel and Savoy hotel in London.”
The October opening of Rosemead House reflects B.C.’s thriving hotel sector and rising interest from national real estate investors.
In August, B.C.’s hotel occupancy rate sat at 87.2 per cent, while Canada experienced its highest occupancy level since 2014 at 80.7 per cent, according to hotel data benchmarker STR, a division of real estate data provider CoStar.
Appetite for B.C. hotel investment grows
“There’s absolutely been a surge in investment interest and that’s spurred by a couple of different factors, but I think the real driver is the declining office market,” says Carrie Russell, senior managing partner at HVS Canada, a hospitality assets consultancy, in Vancouver.
“There are a lot of sites that were intended for office use, and now developers are pivoting to look at alternatives because the office market isn’t as strong as it was four or five years ago, so now hotels seem like the right direction.”
After a period of little interest, Ms. Russell says more developers are conducting feasibility studies to determine the potential success of a hotel project.
This comes on the heels of Vancouver city council updating its policy to encourage more hotel developments and to respond to the tourism-driven need for an additional 10,000 rooms by 2030.
Changes to the city’s policy include measures such as relaxing restrictions on mixed hotel-residential developments for a limited time to encourage more of these projects in the downtown core and the central business district, and allowing additional height and density for hotel projects on or off commercial high streets.
Lifting and amending certain restrictions is intended to attract investment and make it simpler for developers to launch projects faster.
While there are some active hotel projects in Vancouver, Ms. Russell says it will take time to see more as the updated rezoning laws take effect.
Marriott International is currently the main player, with one 30-storey hotel by Paul Y. Construction (B.C.) Ltd., set to open near downtown Vancouver’s Pacific Centre in 2028. Marriott will also take up another eight floors of a separate 30-storey hotel and residential project in Yaletown, by Nonni Property Group.
After the developer renovated the 1906 Tudor Revivalist estate, now known as Rosemead House, antiques were brought in from across Britain and from London’s iconic Dorchester and Savoy hotels.Supplied/Aragon Properties
Record-breaking industry performance
CBRE, the world’s largest real estate and investment company, recently released its quarterly report that includes a 2026 forecast for the national and provincial hotel industries.
One of the main performance measures the sector relies on is revenue per available room, or revPAR, which refers to the hotel’s occupancy multiplied by its average room rate. A high revPAR rate indicates a thriving hotel sector.
“The purpose of measuring revPAR is that a hotel can manipulate its rate – have a lower rate and drive occupancy into the hotel or hold your rate at a higher level and potentially sacrifice some occupancy,” Ms. Russell says.
According to the CBRE report, Canadian RevPAR is predicted to grow to $142 in 2026, up from $139 in 2025.
This past August, a prime month for tourism, Canadian revPAR broke $200, while Vancouver saw its largest year-over-year revPAR increase at $340, the highest in the country, per CoStar.
Overall, B.C.’s revPAR metrics are expected to reach a five-year high at $178 this year, an increase from just $136 in 2019.
Despite a hotel downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic, B.C. recovered well and relatively quickly, which is significant because of the large role tourism plays in the province’s economy. In 2023, tourism generated $22.1-billion in revenue, contributing $9.7-billion to B.C.’s GDP.
Strong and steady tourism signals to investors that the province is ready for new hotel developments, says Ms. Russell.
“For years, there wasn’t a lot of investment activity happening,” she says. “Then the last two years, it’s been just call after call and a lot of conversation about new hotels in Vancouver.”
The 28-room Rosemead House combines old-world charm and elegance with luxury modern amenities such as heated bathroom floors and $25,000 mattresses in every room.Supplied/Aragon Properties
Tourism abuzz beyond Vancouver
While Vancouver draws the majority of tourism dollars, about 40 per cent of tourism businesses are located outside the city.
“All of the tourism regions in the province, as well as community destination management organizations, have done an excellent job marketing British Columbia and generating strong demand from both domestic and international markets postpandemic,” says Walt Judas, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of British Columbia.
Vancouver Island entices nature-lovers with its lush rainforests and charming towns and cities, while Whistler’s year-round mountain activities and the Okanagan’s orchards and wineries appeal to both domestic and international visitors. The Sunshine Coast located in B.C.’s southern mainland is also on the rise, offering year-round outdoor activities such as hiking and snowshoeing.
“Many destinations like Tofino, Ucluelet and Parksville [on Vancouver Island], as well as Osoyoos [in the Okanagan], saw a boost in domestic visitors during the pandemic that fuelled even higher visitation in subsequent years,” Mr. Judas says. “Victoria has a number of hotel proposals in the works.”
That bodes well for Aragon Properties, which is ahead of the curve with Rosemead House and its soft-launch this past spring.
“Over the course of a very strong summer in British Columbia, and in particular in Victoria, we had national and international guests from all over, and feedback has been outstanding,” says Mr. Walter.
“The long term vision is for Rosemead House to become the ultimate boutique luxury escape on Vancouver Island.”