In April of 2024, the Michelin Guide, which has for decades been the go-to for the crème de la crème of restaurants, began transforming the way they rate hotels.

Not that the inclusion of stays has been new for the guide, but the introduction of a new Michelin Key rating—akin to that of the Michelin Star awarded to restaurants—presents travellers a way to know where their night will be a cut above.

More than 5,000 hotels that are a part of the guide were re-examined by Michelin’s selection team, anonymously, and multiple times to arrive at the initial ratings for the Michelin Key distinctions.

Just one hotel in Calgary made the grade to be awarded a Key: The Dorian.

“Calgary right now it really is the city to be. Whether the new convention centre or the new arena that’s coming, Calgary is just booming. People are flocking here from Toronto and from Vancouver, because Calgary really has what I’ve always said about Calgary, it has everything a big city needs but has a small hometown feel,” said Ian Jones, General Manager of The Dorian.

The award comes as a result of the hard work that has gone into creating a signature boutique hotel based on the concept of Oscar Wilde’s Gothic novel, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Jones said.

From the art throughout made from pages of copies of the book to the herringbone fabrics (a favourite of Oscar Wilde) used in everything from the drapes to carpets in guest rooms, to the architectural details designed to put a modern take on 19th Century England, The Dorian has been designed to be emblematic of Dorian Grey.

Right down to asking guests to make a true confession at check-in anonymously, and then allowing other guests to rate those as being either saintly or monstrous, in reflection of the painting itself.

“We’re taking Dorian Gray in the UK and bringing it into Alberta. If you look at our guest floors, our carpeting which we had custom made, is a British tartan as well, with the Alberta Wild Rose woven into it as well. So again, you have the Alberta and you have the UK, and there’s many, many notes throughout the hotel,” Jones said.

“Every room has the actual book, The Picture of Dorian Gray in it. Our restaurant here [The Wilde], our menu is presented in a book form, and everything works like a book. You have your preface, you have your prologue, you have your narrative, you have your epilogue.”

The examination of the Michelin Guide over The Dorian was likely due to other awards that the hotel has won like the DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) Award of Excellence, Jones said.

The award is in the details

The Michelin Guide called the awarding of its Keys a reality that their five universal criteria categories are being filled at the highest levels.

“Our Key hotels don’t just fulfill one of these criteria. These are the best of the best in all categories,” the guide reads.

Jones said that getting those details right, and the distinction that followed, owed much to The Dorian’s owner and CEO of the PBA Group Patrica Phillips.

“It’s the architecture, interior design, consisting quality of service, personality and character, value for price, and significant contribution in the market,” he said.

That service has to meet a certain expectation set by customers who pay a not-insubstantial fee per night to stay at The Dorian, he said.

That includes a commitment to local social supports, be that creating brown bag lunches for school kids, or creating meals for families the Calgary Ronald McDonald House, or volunteering for local charity Love for Lewiston which helps families with children who have Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

“We’re not like Toronto or Vancouver, or like Paris and Singapore and Hong Kong and New York. So, we’ve got to elevate our game because all of those guests that are coming to us have been to all those places, too,” Jones said.

“That’s why it’s critical that we are continually reinventing ourselves because they’re stepping up. So if we just sit back and say, ‘We got the Michelin One Key, OK, we’re good to go,’ before we know it, someone’s going to surpass us and get a Michelin Two Key, and we’ll be like, ‘what happened? We took our eye off the ball.'”

What the award of distinction does though for The Dorian, said Jones, was to help customers find them as a hotel, especially as a brand that doesn’t add the moniker hotel to the name.

“We’re only in our second year, so we’re starting to make penetration… so we need to work hard letting people know we are a hotel and this is where we are, and this is what we’re about,” Jones said.

“In a way, yes, it benefits us, for sure, it does, but it’s not the only reason we are doing what we’re doing, because Calgary needs to be elevated. It’s not just Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Calgary’s got to start playing in that game, and I think we’re I think we’re well on our way.”

Calgary becoming a hospitality provider, second to none

Sol Zia, Executive Director for the Calgary Hotel Association, agreed with Jones, saying the award was a recognition of Calgary’s place as a hospitality leader.

“With the opening of the BMO Center, a substantial increase in our footprint when it comes to meetings and conventions makes recognition from an international body like Michelin, and the awarding of that Key and hopefully more in the future, it helps. It is a substantial aid to attracting major global conventions to our city,” Zia said.

He said that it also puts a positive bit of pressure on to industry as a whole—increased by another two of Calgary’s hotels, the Fairmont Palliser and Hotel Le Germain Calgary also being selected as locations with very high standards for travellers.

“A number of hotels will now be embarking on major renovations. Increases in whether it’s the nature and elegance of the rooms, the surrounding lot and lobby, or food and beverage. It puts positive pressure on ownership and management of hotels to all increase the qualities of their hotels,” Zia said.

It also means that there’s more economic incentive for hoteliers to look to Calgary when considering building properties, he said.

“It’s actually very simple. This will have a positive impact on the rates that hotels are able to charge, for major pieces of business such as conventions and meetings,” Zia said.

“Over time, will be a very positive impact to the PNLs or the income statements of hotels, because it is a positive driver being able to command, for want of a better term, rates that are more consistent with markets such as Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver.”

As for the impact that the One Key will have on the entire tourism industry, Tourism Calgary’s Senior Vice President of Marketing Jeff Hessel said that anytime there is a global recognition for Calgary it’s a good thing.

“We’ve got so much stuff happening in Calgary with the new BMO Centre opening, some new hotels that have opened, to world-class experiences and attractions over the last few years. Even what’s happening even just from a route development at the airport.”

“It just is great to see that recognition coming in when Calgary is really coming into its own from a tourism perspective.”

He said that Calgarians should be pleased to see that the city is on the map, alongside larger destinations for travel.

“We’re so pleased because a lot of times we look to these very large cities in Canada when it comes to that initial recognition. So for Calgary to be put on this list, and for one of our hotels, it is fantastic to be recognized with this award in among all of our peers across the country,” Hessel said.