Explorer Hotel

The Explorer is located at the northwestern edge of the area of downtown Yellowknife known as New Town, the city's main business district, at the intersection of 48th Street and 49th Avenue. It is on a sharp rise in the land, at an elevation of 200 metres (660 ft).[1] On its south and east are developed urban streets in a grid pattern; two blocks to the southeast, at the junction of 48th street and 50th (Franklin) Avenue is the YK Centre, a high-rise that is home to Canada's northernmost enclosed shopping mall. Two blocks to the southwest is the headquarters of the Canadian military's Joint Task Force (North).[12]

On the north and west the land is much less developed. A patch of taiga with outcrops of bedrock, typical terrain for Yellowknife and its surroundings, is to the north. On its northwest a bluff descends to a cleared lot awaiting the construction of another hotel and a wetland that gives way to Niven Lake to the north, with a newer residential area beyond. Across 48th is the territorial visitors' centre, with the entrance roads of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre and Northwest Territories Legislative Building to their west, set amongst more taiga, and Frame Lake to the south.[12]

A paved driveway leads north into an unpaved parking lot from 49th. On a slope at the north end of the lot stands 2.4-metre-tall (8 ft) inuksuk.[13] The driveway continues through a large paved porte-cochère to a smaller northern parking lot on higher ground.[12]

Originally a staging area for bush pilots heading for destinations further north, Yellowknife began to grow as a settlement in its own right when gold was discovered in the late 1930s. After a brief pause during the years of World War II, the growth continued in the 1950s, with the New Town being built to augment the Old Town, the original, more rustic city, on the peninsula leading into Great Slave Lake. In 1967, at the recommendation of the Carrothers Commission, the city was designated the capital of the Northwest Territories (which at the time included what is now Nunavut), making it as important politically as well as commercially.[19]

With this new importance came visitors used to traveling in style. Construction on the Explorer, a hotel meant to cater to them, began in 1974 and completed in 1976. It was strategically located in a topographically prominent position along the highway leading from the airport to downtown.[19] At that time it had 117 rooms.[10]

By the end of the decade the hotel had played host to Prince Charles, who stayed there when he traveled to Yellowknife to speak at the dedication ceremonies for the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre across the road. Actor Leonard Nimoy also stayed there at one point,[9] as have Rick Mercer, Peter MacKay and former Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper.[20] The territory's legislative assembly sometimes held meetings at the Explorer until its own building was constructed further down 49th in 1993.[21] The following year Queen Elizabeth II and her husband and consort, Prince Philip, stayed at the Explorer on their visit to Yellowknife.[8] Also during the 1990s, the hotel expanded for the first time, adding 10 rooms on its second floor.[2]

In 2004 Grandfield Pacific, the hotel's then-owner, agreed to sell it to Nunastar Properties, an Edmonton-based company which also owned the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit, the territorial capital of recently created Nunavut, for CDN$6.35 million. Nunastar announced at the time that it planned significant renovations. "We plan to make it Yellowknife's premier hotel for business travellers," said Nunastar president Doug Cox.[22]

The $2.4 million project began in 2007, with local firm Clark Builders handling the construction.[2] By early 2008 it was finished, adding 60 more rooms. "I'm excited," said Rainer Launhardt, the Nunastar executive who supervised the expansion. "The bathrooms will be larger, and the rooms will be better—better being a relative term, seeing as how the rest of the hotel underwent renovations only two years ago."[10] As part of the renovation, the Alex Janvier mural that had been in the lobby was moved to a dedicated banquet/conference room. The hotel invited him to refurbish the mural; he took advantage of the opportunity to expand and update it as well. The room was named for him.[23]

Three years afterwards, the expanded hotel welcomed a third generation of the British royal family as guests when Prince William and his wife, Duchess Catherine, stayed there on their visit to Yellowknife shortly after their 2011 wedding.[8] During their stay, the couple took meals in their suite to avoid creating a scene at the restaurant. A special menu was created for them reflecting their preference for eating light, consisting of English muffins and similar foods.[20]

Among the guests at the expanded hotel were many visitors from Japan, who usually come during the cold and dark winter months to see the northern lights. In October 2014, one Japanese tourist, Atsumi Yoshikubo, was discovered to be missing when staff at the Explorer went to her room two days after she had failed to check out and found her bags, all packed. She herself had last been seen three days earlier walking down the Ingraham Highway west of the hotel, shortly after its own security cameras had recorded her leaving;[24] many Yellowknifers took it upon themselves to search the expanses of taiga surrounding the city over the next week and a half[25] until the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said their investigations led them to believe that Yoshikubo had intended to commit suicide by walking into the wilderness.[26] Human remains, later identified in 2016 as that of Yoshikubo's,[27] were found in a patch of woods off the highway near her personal effects 10 months later.[28]

Around the time Yoshikubo's remains were found, the city approved plans for the Explorer's largest expansion yet. The hotel proposes to build a new wing on the west side of the current building's north end. It would add 72 more rooms, bringing its total to 259, and an additional banquet/conference room. The proposal was approved as another developer was also planning a 146-room hotel for the property next door, meant to compete with the Explorer.[11]

View north from a room on that side of the hotel

Sunset late on a summer night from the Explorer

Rooms at the Explorer start at CDN$183 a night. All rooms have free Wi-Fi, complimentary coffee, clock radio, telephone and television with remote control.[29] Deluxe rooms offer a choice of one king or two queen size beds with a flat screen television and iPod-compatible clock radio, along with a media charging station and work desk with ergonomic chair.[30] Rooms on the second floor are wheelchair accessible.[31]

Suites are also available. The executive suites offer a king-size bed, kitchenette, wet bar, fireplace and a Jacuzzi in the bathroom. The junior suites are designed with business travelers in mind and have more work space and related amenities.[32] All rooms and suites are non-smoking.[31]

The Explorer's conference rooms, which it says are the largest in Yellowknife, can handle groups as large as 350. The largest, the 370-square-metre (4,000 sq ft) Katimavik (meaning "place of meeting" in Inuktitut), can be subdivided three ways. The smaller Janvier room is equipped with modern multimedia presentation technology, including a wall-height projection screen.[33]

Other amenities available for guests within the hotel are business and fitness centres. The former consists of two separate computer workstations with high-speed Internet and printers.[34] The latter, located on the hotel's lower level, offers treadmills, exercise bikes, ellipticals and free weights.[35]

A shuttle bus service to the airport operates daily until midnight.[31] Since many international guests come to see the northern lights, the hotel also books those tours for them as well.[36] The hotel itself has also been singled out for the views it offers over Yellowknife in all directions.[6]

• List of hotels in Canada
• Timeline of Yellowknife history
• Tourism in Canada

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Explorer Hotel.

• Hotel website
• The Explorer Hotel on Facebook