Delta Hotels

In June 1962, William Pattison and his business partners opened the 68-room Delport Inn in Richmond, BC.[2] That September, Western Hotels changed the location name to the Vancouver Airport Inn,[3] and assumed the management until January 1964.[4]

During 1965–1967, Delta Developments built four motels on Vancouver Island, and leased/purchased two further motels in the BC interior. Driver Developments, which bought Delta Developments in 1969,[5] evidenced serious financial difficulties from its diverse investment portfolio within months.[6] In 1970, Delta Hotels Limited assumed the ownership and operation of the hotels/motels.[7] By mid 1974, the chain had been pruned to four properties.[8]

Delta London Armouries Hotel, Ontario, 2005.

In 1975, Delta entered the Toronto market.[9] By 1980, the six BC properties matched the six out of province. By 1985, there were four in BC, four in Ontario, and five across four other provinces. The owners, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Great-West Lifeco, and Bill Pattison,[10] sold the chain to the Realstar Group of Toronto in 1988.[11] A decade later, Realstar, and partner Lai Sun Group, resold to Canadian Pacific Hotels (CP Hotels).[12] During the 1990s, Delta operated a single US hotel, the Delta Court of Flags Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

In 1999, after CP Hotels acquired the Fairmont brand, six CP properties rebranded to supplement the existing 24 Delta ones, and the Delta chain became a wholly owned subsidiary of CP Hotel's two-thirds-owned Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.[13] In terms of classification, Fairmont was four star and Delta three star.[14] After British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) acquired Delta in 2007, the brand flourished, and by 2013 the portfolio comprised 40 properties, of which 31 were managed (10 having the real estate owned), and nine were franchised.[15]

Delta Privileges ranked as one of the best hotel rewards programs offered in Canada.[16]

Since 2015, each venue prefix has become Delta Hotels by Marriott.

In 2015, Marriott International acquired the chain, making Marriott the largest full service hotel company in Canada.[183] Augmenting the exclusively Canadian properties,[178] two US ones were added in 2016.[179] US properties now outnumber Canadian ones.[1]

International expansion was first to Shanghai, then Frankfurt.[184] Dubai,[185] three for the United Kingdom,[186] and Istanbul,[187] followed.

In 2016, Delta Privilege rewards extended to other Marriott locations, and Marriott cards extended to Delta locations.[188] In 2019, Marriott Bonvoy replaced the various Marriott group rewards programs.[189]