The owner of Sarnia's Insignia Hotel is expressing frustration with how some local politicians have supported the hotel during the COVID pandemic.
Malvinder Singh said despite trying for the past four months, the hotel hasn't received any funding from the regional recovery effort.
"We reached out to Mayor Mike Bradley, we reached out to MPP Bob Bailey, we reached out to MP Marilyn Gladu, but out of the three, the person who has been most helpful and trying everything is the mayor -- he's designated a person to look into this," he said. "We got no response from Bob Bailey, and Marilyn Gladu's office came back saying we are not eligible [for funding], where as we were -- they didn't even do their homework."
Bailey's office said they have no record of Mr. Singh or someone from the Insignia reaching out to the Sarnia-Lambton MPP.
Singh said the hotel is surviving because they've been borrowing left, right and centre against their other properties. He added that just to keep it going, the hotel has had to pump in over $2-million in the last 16 months.
"We see a lot of policies, but it's the local politician who has to step in and say 'this is what's happening in Sarnia, these people are keeping it going and pumping in money by borrowing personally,' but if there's money out there that could help us, that would be really good."
Singh expressed how it's unfortunate little is being done to help the Insignia considering all that it's doing for the local economy.
"We put in $23-million into Sarnia in the last three years [for renovations], and almost all of it has gone to local construction companies, businesses and, you know, salaries."
Singh said he is optimistic business will soon begin to pick up as Ontario continues to open back up.
"It all depends upon opening up the border. The only redeeming feature is that we got this time to convert to Marriott, and I don't know generally, but specifically for us, this rebranding is going to make a significant difference."
The Insignia rebranded from a Choice Hotel to a Tribute Portfolio By Marriott in April.
"When we started renovating it, we kept on improving, improving, improving, and in the end, it ended up being a far better product than what was required for a Choice brand. We realized that this product was more suited to a luxury brand."
Singh said bringing the top hotel brand to Sarnia will do a lot for tourism in the area, and that the nearest Marriott Hotel is located in London.
The Christina Street hotel, formerly the Drawbridge Inn, reopened as the Insignia Hotel in September 2019.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley (left) shakes hands with Insignia Hotel Owner Malvinder Singh during a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Christina Street site. October 2019. (BlackburnNews.com file photo)