On June 1, 2007 the BC Lodging and Campgrounds Association launched BC Select Lodging, a new travel accommodation program spotlighting independent inns, motels, hotels and resorts throughout the province.

“While some travellers prefer large, branded, chain hotels for their vacation or business trips, others look for a more unique, local experience. BC Select Lodging properties provide just that,” states Warren Burgess, President of The Pinnacles Suite Hotel at Silver Star and Chair of the BC Select Lodging Board of Directors. “And because membership with BC Select Lodging is standards driven, travellers can have confidence that when they book at one of our member properties, it has our ‘stamp of approval’.”

The BC Lodging and Campgrounds Association developed BC Select Lodging to support the province’s unbranded, small to mid-sized accommodations. As a member-driven, non-profit program, BC Select Lodging provides independent properties from 4 to 75 rooms with the training, marketing support, access to financing, and industry accreditation that allows them to be more competitive.

Burgess goes on to say, “In working with our member properties, our commitment is to provide customers with a dependable, consistent standard of quality and service-oriented accommodation. With a target of 400 members by 2010, we’re building the brand to not only represent these distinctly different, independent properties, we want to really showcase the diverse accommodation options British Columbia has to offer.”

To develop the BC Select Lodging brand, BC Lodging and Campgrounds Association obtained funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada, the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, and Tourism British Columbia.