In one of his less histrionic moments in the song "Limelight," Rush's Geddy Lee sang, "Living on a lighted stage approaches the unreal for those who think and feel."
It's a lyric that seems increasingly apropos, coming from a Toronto-based rock trio as its home country, as well as its traveling inhabitants, appear to be getting more than their share of attention from the lodging industry lately.
Venture through a hotel convention -- for example, last month's Americas Lodging Investment Conference (ALIS) in Los Angeles -- or scan the news wires, and you'll find that Canada, its cities, hotels and citizens seem to be getting a sizable uptick in investment from the U.S. lodging industry.
With U.S. real estate prices on the rise and with brands starting to crowd each other out in some of the country's most popular tourist destinations, hoteliers are gazing -- in some cases, jumping -- north of the border to take advantage of the steady increase in global travel spending.
The most notable recent news was Marriott International's announcement late last month that it was spending about $135 million to acquire Delta Hotels and Resorts, a 38-unit, Canada-based upscale chain. The acquisition, set to close by summer, will give the largest publicly traded U.S. hotelier the honor of being Canada's largest operator of full-service hotels. It will also give Marriott a presence in more than two dozen Canadian markets where it was previously not represented. (Yes, folks, there were actually parts of the civilized world that lacked Marriott hotels.)
With Marriott snapping up companies such as convention-facility specialist Gaylord Hotels and South Africa lodging leader Protea Hospitality Group in the past couple years, Canada found itself next in line in Marriott's quest for world domination.
"Canada is the most important feeder market to the U.S.," Marriott Chief Development Officer Tony Capuano said at an ALIS media event. "This is a great way to get into markets that were largely closed."
Marriott is not alone in casting its sights and dollars north. Hyatt Hotels, having now opened a dozen of its Andaz lifestyle properties since the brand was announced in 2007, said late last month that the brand's first Canadian hotel would open in, of all places, Ottawa, by mid-2016.
David Tarr, senior vice president of Hyatt's Americas region, said the 200-room hotel "will convey the vibrant, international spirit of Canada's capital city."
Others have been even quicker to embrace Canada as part of a growth strategy for a nascent brand. Among them was Sixty Hotels, the luxury-lifestyle hotelier that was launched in late 2013 by Thompson Hotels' founders. The company said late last month that its first non-U.S. hotel would open in Montreal next year and would feature that city's first rooftop pool (cum skating rink?) and bar. That puts Montreal in pretty good company, as Sixty Hotels' only other properties are in New York, Beverly Hills and, later this year, Miami.
"The cultural and creative sensibility of the city along with its jet-set style makes Montreal an ideal location to open the next Sixty Hotel," said co-owner Jason Pomeranc. His family sold its share of Thompson Hotels two years ago but continues to expand its lifestyle hotel offerings. "Montreal is filled with eclectic and inspiring neighborhoods and offers fantastic global appeal," he said.
Loews Hotels & Resorts, which in October announced a soft brand called OE Collection, has pushed Canada straight to the front of the line with its first property identification late last month: A 100-room Toronto property that will be built next year by local nightclub and restaurant operator Charles Khabouth. It will be managed by Loews.
Is this some sort of karmic retribution for a country that hasn't hoisted a Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens won the National Hockey League championship in 1993? A sonic boom matching that of a Bryan Adams power ballad? A Justin Bieber meltdown? An Alanis Morissette screed or a drum solo from Rush's Neil Peart? (OK, scratch that, nothing matches the power of a Neil Peart drum solo.)
Well, that certainly is possible, given that unlike, say, a China, Brazil or India, nothing points to a huge surge in dollars (the Canadian loonie, of course) to be spent at Canadian hotels or by Canadians in the U.S.
Indeed, Canada's approximately 436,000 rooms are less than a tenth of those in the U.S. and are about equal to the inventory of Orlando, Chicago, New York and Washington put together, according to STR.
Still, there might be a little more room to roam in Canada, as the ratio of citizens to hotel rooms up north is about 80-to-1, compared with about 64-to-1 here in the States.
And there are pockets of success. Among all the cities in the Americas region, Montreal had the largest gain in hotel room occupancy rate last year, advancing 5.1%, to 69%, according to STR.
In fact, Montreal leapfrogged Hong Kong to become the seventh most popular international destination city for Americans, Expedia's Hotels.com said late last month. And in the lower regions of that 50-city list, Calgary and Quebec City also made forward strides against the rest of the world.
More people from overseas are discovering the charms of the Great White North, as well. Through November, inbound international travel to Canada was up 3.1%, to 16 million visitors, with inbound gains from Spain, Italy, China and India all jumping at least 18% from a year earlier.
That said, there's little sign that Americans and Canadians are crossing the 49th parallel in greater numbers. Through November, U.S. outbound travel to Canada was little changed from a year earlier, at about 11 million people, and represented about half of the number of Americans who headed for Mexico last year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
And while the U.S. attracted a record 62.7 million international visitors last year, that was no thanks to our northern neighbors, whose visitation numbers actually fell 1.6% from a year earlier, to some 20 million visitors.
So maybe the reasons for increased hotelier interest in Canada are as nuanced as a Canadian's bone-dry humor. Why join the horde searching for unearthed locations in San Francisco, Chicago or New York when maybe the same impact can be achieved in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal?
Besides, as Marriott's executives put it at ALIS, 20 million inbound Canadian visitors are nothing to scoff at, so bringing a Delta hotel to, say, Miami might attract snowbirds looking for a little familiarity in their accommodations in the States.
All of which means that while differences will remain between the two large, friendly (at least, to each other) neighbors (smoked meat? metric system?), the lines might blur a bit when it comes to hotel choices.
The next time "they pave paradise, and put up a parking lot" north of the border, as Canadian Joni Mitchell famously put it, there might be a hotel next to it. And it just might be one of the U.S.'s trendier brands.