50 years of memorable moments at the Explorer Hotel, Yellowknife

It is one of the first major buildings you see when downtown Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, comes into view around the bend in the road. Perched on a rock, the Explorer Hotel marked its 50th anniversary in 2024 by doing 50 good deeds to help the community where it was born.

It is often cited as the first large hotel in the North.

Built in 1974, this hotel has seen notable visits, including the passage of three generations of the royal family.

In 1994, Queen Elizabeth stayed there during her visit to the capital. In 2011, the prince William and his wife Kate also stayed there. More recently, King Charles, before his coronation in 2022, and Camilla, also walked the floor of the royal suite.

The director of conferences and banquets, Rolland-Eric Rakotomena, does not hesitate to describe the hotel as a great jewel of hospitality and tourism in the Northwest Territories.

The one who has worked there for eight years remembers the visit of Prince Charles and Camilla in 2022.

They are nice, they are pleasanthe said. “We brought them little treats to their room, little souvenirs, and they really appreciated it.”

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Historical moments

In the years following the hotel’s opening, the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories made its home there. Indeed, in the absence of an official building until 1993, it was in a conference room of the hotel that the first legislative sessions of a government in its infancy took place.

It was also in this hotel that part of the commission’s work took place. Bergerwho studied the possible consequences of the construction of a gas pipeline in the Mackenzie Valley among the First Nations of the region.

From 1974 to today, the hotel, owned by Nunastar Propertiessaw Yellowknife evolved and established itself as a place of importance for the North.

The amount of renowned dignitaries that have come here, the amount of conferences we’ve had, international conferences at the hotel… For a city like Yellowknifethere are so many people interested in coming hereexplain Stacey RoteliukDirector of Sales and Marketing Nunastar Properties.

Tourism and hot air ballooning

Shane Clark remembers his time at the hotel in the late 1980s, when he worked there as a night controller. He spent a few summers there when he was a hospitality student in Alberta.

Today a real estate broker, he remembers Yellowknife at that time, a much smaller town.

When I worked there it was the original building with 18 floorshe remembers. It was fun, it was dynamic. There was a really good team of employees.

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Unlike today, the majority of hotel guests were not tourists going hunting for the Northern Lights.

Tourism was not what it is today. There was a lot of travel by civil servants, some business trips by big companies, such as gold mines.

He remembers what he believes to be the first cohort of foreign tourists visiting Yellowknifefrom Japan. For the first time in its history, the hotel remained open during the holiday season for them. The chef returned to work to prepare meals for these six or eight customershe said.

It was also in the hotel that we could meet most of the city’s residents, at the restaurant. It was “the” restaurant, and it was always full. Unless you were at the miners’ mess downtown, you were at Bedrock Cafe.

An anecdote that comes to mind is the visit to the businessman’s hotel Richard Bransonwho founded the brand Virginafter his hot air balloon crash near the community of Délı̨nę.

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He was traveling in a hot air balloon on some kind of mission to set a transpacific record and he was going to Los Angeles with his co-pilottell Shane Clark. They were thrown off course and crossed Alaska before crashing.

I remember seeing him in the reception hall. I didn’t know who he was. […] He had his entourage and it was a great moment. But we didn’t know why! We didn’t even know that he had flown his hot air balloon all over the world.

M. Clark says he is proud to have been part of the hotel team.

I think it has always been the great hotel of the North. This is the place to stay when you come to Yellowknifehe says. It’s a beautiful building, and [l’hôtel] does so much for the community.

50 good deeds

Always in the spirit of helping the community, 50 good deeds were organized throughout 2024 to mark the 50th anniversary.

Owners and employees have contributed financially to several charity events and participated in several activities, such as Pride and Christmas parades.

Recently, staff sang Christmas carols to residents at the Avens Seniors Center in Yellowknife. Rolland-Eric Rakotomena is proud to have participated.

The philosophy of the house is for the community, to keep the community alivehe said.

Stacey Roteliuk said that employees greatly appreciated the initiative and proposed several ideas.

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Two chefs from the kitchen asked if they could prepare meals for the youth shelter Home Baseshe said. It made it all so beautiful […] to help in return.

Mme Roteliukwho has been in the hospitality industry for a long time, says that connection to the community is important.

She hopes that the hotel will be able to continue these contributions and good deeds in the years to come.

With information from Shannon Scott