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behind the brand: our people, our promise, our coast hotels

Join us as we pull back the curtain on what makes Coast Hotels truly special: our people. Through engaging sessions, real stories, and on-the-ground insights, we’ll explore the ideas, innovations, and teamwork shaping our brand’s continued success.

Behind the Brand celebrates the passion, creativity, and collaboration that connect every role and every property across our network. It’s a chance to learn from one another, strengthen our shared purpose, and see how every contribution plays a part in bringing the Coast Hotels brand promise to life.

This year’s Brand Conference will bring Coast Hotels spirit to life with peer-led panels, inspiring keynote speakers, and hands-on learning opportunities designed to spark new ideas. Attendees can expect meaningful connections with colleagues, insights from brand and industry leaders, and the opportunity to hear directly from hotels that are sharing their proven solutions and success stories. It’s more than a conference, it’s an experience that will leave you energized, informed, and proud to be part of the Coast Hotels story.

Monday, February 9th, 2026

arrival day

Welcome to Nanaimo, British Columbia! Located on Nanaimo’s waterfront, the Coast Bastion Hotel will be our home base for the next few days. Join us in the hotel foyer to complete your registration, receive your conference materials and special gifts.

 

  • Location: Hotel Foyer - Coast Bastion Hotel

    Stop by our registration table to complete your registration, confirm your arrival, and collect your conference badge and gifts.

  • Location: Benson Room, Ground Floor, “Sgt. O’Flaherty’s Pub” - Coast Bastion Hotel

    Get settled into your room, then join us for a nostalgic welcome reception in a classic recreation of Sgt. O’Flaherty’s Pub. This iconic pub concept appeared in many Coast Hotel locations throughout the 1980s and 1990s, from Coast Prince George Hotel by APA to Coast Bastion Hotel.

    Inspired by the Brooklyn, New York beat once patrolled by Sgt. O’Flaherty, the pub offered signature New York deli fare, billiards, a Bavarian room, and lively Irish sing-alongs. Come and experience a distinctive chapter in Coast Hotels history.

Tuesday, February 10th, 2026

Conference Sessions: Day 1

  • Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Start your day right with a delicious breakfast and settle into the Pacific Ballroom for the first day of engaging conference sessions.

  • Brigitte Diem-Guy, Brand & Communications Consultant

    Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

  • Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

  • Mr. Yoshi Hirano, Senior Managing Director, APA Group and President & CEO, Coast Hotels USA, Inc.

    Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

  • Takamasa Machiura (TM), President & CEO, Coast Hotels Limited

    Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Welcome to the first “Live” President’s Forum of the year! TM will provide inspiring Q4 and Year-In Review business updates, hotel team recognition, and key progress highlights from our "Vision 10,000" initiative, setting the stage for future growth and collaboration.

  • Christina Cotell, Media Chairperson, Mind the Bar Foundation

    Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Hospitality is built on care for others—but the demands of the industry can take a real toll on the people behind the scenes. In this session, Mind the Bar Foundation explores the unique mental health challenges faced by hospitality professionals, from long hours and emotional labor to burnout. Attendees will gain a better understanding of warning signs, learn how to start supportive conversations, and discover practical tools and resources to help create safer, healthier workplaces.

  • Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Enjoy a revitalizing pause with energizing beverages and snacks, providing a refreshing break before immersing yourself back into the day's sessions.

  • Location: Dunsmuir & Malahat Room, Second Floor – Coast Bastion Hotel

    This year, we’re introducing a new networking experience designed to bring our on-property leaders and corporate leaders together in a dynamic, tradeshow-style format. Participants will have the opportunity to visit our corporate leaders and engage in brief, focused conversations, creating opportunities to share insights, ask questions, and build meaningful connections in a relaxed, engaging setting.

  • Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Enjoy an unplugged lunch during the conference, an opportunity to step away from screens, connect with fellow attendees, and recharge with meaningful conversations and connections.

  • Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Let’s take a moment to recognize and celebrate the dedication and passion of our incredible Hotels and their Ambassadors, whose commitment and passion help make every guest experience at our hotels exceptional and memorable.

  • Julia Yang, Account Strategist eCommerce

    Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    AI is reshaping and changing how guests discover, book, and experience hotels. In this session, Google will unpack how AI-driven insights, trends, and tools can power more effective marketing campaigns while unlocking innovation and revenue at the property level. From optimizing digital presence to personalizing guest touchpoints, this presentation bridges emerging technology with practical, on-property opportunities that drive measurable value.

  • Manny Ilao, Chief Financial Officer
    Amin Himani, Director, Revenue Performance & Distribution
    Amy Alexander, Manager, Reservations & Distribution

    Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    This session demystifies how AI works behind the scenes every day, automating the ordinary so leaders and team can focus on humanizing the extraordinary. We will highlight AI-powered tools and systems that support performance strategies, from optimizing visibility and campaign effectiveness to analyzing guest feedback and surfacing actionable insights. General Managers will see practical, real-world examples of how AI strengthens reporting, informs revenue decisions, and enables smarter workflows, helping teams save time, prioritize the guest experience, and remain competitive in an increasingly digital landscape.

  • Brigitte Diem-Guy, Brand & Communications Consultant

    Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

  • Location: Dunsmuir & Malahat Room, Second Floor – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Join us for some snacks and an engaging tradeshow showcasing the innovative services and solutions offered by our valued partners and vendors. This is your chance to connect, collaborate, and discover tools and strategies that can elevate your operations, enhance guest experiences, and drive business success.

Wednesday, February 11th, 2026

Conference Sessions: Day 2

  • Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    It’s time for the most important meal of the day. Enjoy a hot breakfast to energize and sharpen your focus for the second day of our brand conference.

  • Brigitte Diem-Guy, Brand & Communications Consultant

    Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

 

LEADERSHIP STREAM

Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

  • Brigitte Diem-Guy, Brand & Communications Consultant

    As leaders, we are the frontline stewards of the Coast Hotels brand. Every guest interaction, every on-property sign, every social media post, and every piece of communication contributes to how our brand is perceived. But behind that seamless experience is a clear and intentional system: our Brand Identity & Style Guide.

    In this session, we take you behind the brand to understand why using the guide consistently is essential for protecting Coast Hotels’ brand equity, delivering on our brand promise, and ensuring that every property, while unique, still feels unmistakably like Coast Hotels.

    Drawing from the guide’s core elements, our brand purpose, attributes, visual language, photography style, tone of voice, and our distinctive purple-to-magenta palette, we’ll explore how consistency creates trust, recognition, and value for guests and owners alike.

  • Charmaine Elliott, General Manager, Coast Canmore Hotel & Conference Centre
    John Mayne, General Manager, Coast Chilliwack Hotel by APA
    Chelsea Hughes, Assistant General Manager, Coast Hillcrest Hotel
    Amy Worobec, Senior Manager, Loyalty

    Hear directly from hotel leaders who are putting guest experience at the center of their strategy. This panel will showcase how three Coast Hotels are creating meaningful moments on property that strengthen loyalty, inspire teams, and elevate the overall guest journey.

  • Take a refreshing break to recharge, connect, and enjoy light refreshments before diving back into the next session with renewed energy.

  • Elaine Apel, Director, Purchasing

    This presentation breaks down brand standards from a purchasing perspective and highlights how compliance helps maintain consistency across our hotels. Learn how following approved purchasing guidelines protects supplier relationships, ensures continued access to branded items, and avoids unintended gaps at the property level—all while supporting operational efficiency and the guest experience.

  • Parijat Gupta, Manager, Social Media & Online Reputation

    Explore how AI can support faster, more consistent responses to guest reviews without losing the human touch. Attendees will learn how human-led AI responses help teams stay on brand, respond with empathy, and maintain authenticity while managing review volume more efficiently. The session will also include practical tips for building effective prompts, showing how thoughtful guidance and oversight can help AI generate responses that feel personal, accurate, and aligned with our brand voice.

  • Unplug and give your mind a chance to relax and recharge. Connect, recharge, and engage with fellow attendees while you enjoy a delicious lunch.

  • Natalya Volkov, Customer Success Manager, Canary Technologies
    Elizabeth MacKinley, Enterprise Sales Executive, Revinate

    Get to know two of our newest technology partners in this back-to-back spotlight session. Revinate and Canary will each present a concise 15-minute overview of their solutions, focusing on how their tools can support guest engagement, streamline operations, and drive value at the property level.

  • Scott Powell, Senior Manager, Web & CRM Marketing

    As travel discovery shifts toward AI-driven experiences, this presentation outlines how Coast Hotels is evolving its content strategy to support Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and AI Overviews (AIO) visibility. It connects structure, clarity, and local relevance to real impacts across awareness, consideration, and decision stages, highlights current gaps, and outlines our AI-first content strategy for hotel microsites.

  • Take a moment during the afternoon refresh break to recharge, connect with colleagues, and enjoy light snacks and beverages before heading to the Vancouver Island Conference Centre’s Shaw Auditorium, where our closing keynote speaker will take the stage.

SALES STREAM

  • Andrew Procknow, Director of Development, First Nations Health Foundation
    Nathania Fung, Chief Executive Officer, First Nations Health Foundation

    Go behind the brand to explore how the principles of safety and humility, rooted in the work of the First Nations Health Foundation, cross provincial and state borders and show up in everyday interactions. This session highlights how sales professionals, as the face behind the brand, can apply these principles to build trust, foster respect, and create meaningful connections with clients and communities.

  • Dominic Monet, Senior Sales Manager, Coast Victoria Hotel & Marina by APA
    Neha Sinha, Director of Sales, Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel by APA
    Laura Ternan, Senior Sales Manager, Campus Tower Suite Hotel
    Shafina Hajee, Director, National Sales

    Go behind the brand to discover how Coast Hotels use AI and historical data to support smarter sales decisions. This session will highlight how AI can help customize proposals, uncover insights from past client activity, and enable sales teams to respond faster, more confidently, and with greater consistency, enhancing the overall client experience.

  • Geoff Roether, Senior Solutions Engineer, IDeaS, a SAS Company

    Join us for an insightful session as we explore the latest enhancements to the IDeaS G3 RMS solution. This session will provide an in-depth look at the configuration of the RMS with an opportunity to re-calibrate the system to better align with today's ever-changing market and demands. The session will also include a deep dive into the new sales group evaluation tool and its recent improvements on the layout, functionality and design. Be sure to take away some great learning on how to optimize your RMS to maximize your revenue potential.

  • Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Unplug and give your mind a chance to relax and recharge. Connect, recharge, and engage with fellow attendees while you enjoy a delicious lunch.

  • Jennifer Misner, Senior Customer Success Manager, Amadeus

    Join us for another insightful session as we invite back our expert speaker to present on the new Amadeus Advisor! This Gen AI powered assistant lets you ask questions in natural language, visualize your KPIs instantly and customize your view with drag & drop widgets. Also, we will take a deeper dive into what’s new with the TravelClick Business Intelligence (BI) tools such as RevenueStrategy360 / Agency360 / Demand360 including a comprehensive view of your revenue performance. We invite all attendees to bring their laptops for this hands-on learning session for an in-depth analysis of your hotel including actionable insights for smarter decision-making, to help you optimize your revenue strategy across all channels.

REVENUE STREAM

ALL ATTENDEES

  • David Allison, Founder, The Valuegraphics Research Company

    Location: Shaw Auditorium – Vancouver Island Conference Centre

    David Allison is the world’s leading authority on human values, a 2X best-selling author, and the founder of the groundbreaking Valuegraphics Project, the first global inventory of core human values. By transforming values into measurable data, David has created an entirely new kind of human-centric insights that are as practical as they are profound, revolutionizing how organizations understand, engage, inspire, and influence people.

    David’s insights, drawn from nearly one million surveys conducted in 152 languages, help global giants like Google, PayPal, lululemon, Amazon, and the United Nations Foundation connect with people on a deeply human level. His groundbreaking research is included in college textbooks and discussed in classrooms around the world. His most recent best-selling book, The Death of Demographics, has been hailed by critics as “convincing, insightful, and revolutionary," and his keynotes have been called “riveting,” “fascinating,” and “life changing.”

    Behind the Brand is a closing keynote designed to reveal what truly makes Coast Hotels resonate with the people who love it most. Grounded in custom Valuegraphics research, this session uncovers the three shared human values that drive guest loyalty and turns those insights into clear, practical guidance for brand, service, and culture. The result is a deeply human, uniquely Coast Hotels experience that unifies the room, sharpens strategic focus, and shows teams how to create stronger emotional connections with guests on purpose. Values are the thread that ties it all together—and the lever that helps Coast Hotels build what comes next.

  • Brigitte Diem-Guy, Brand & Communications Consultant

    Location: Shaw Auditorium – Vancouver Island Conference Centre

  • Location: Foyer of the Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Join us for some social time and cap off the conference sessions with a locally inspired cocktail in the Foyer of the Ballroom.

  • Location: Ballroom, Lobby Level – Coast Bastion Hotel

    Set against Nanaimo’s stunning waterfront, the Harbor Lights Gala is an evening dedicated to honoring the achievements of our outstanding Ambassadors. Inspired by the glow of the harbor at dusk, this elegant celebration combines recognition, connection, and festive celebration. Join us for a memorable night of awards, camaraderie, and inspiration as we come together to celebrate the people who bring our brand to life.

Thursday, February 12th, 2026

Departure Day

As we bring our conference to a close in the inviting city of Nanaimo, let’s reflect on the insights, connections, and inspiration we’ve gained. We’ve shared ideas, strengthened partnerships, and explored strategies that will drive our success in loyalty, operations, and guest experiences. Let’s leave Coast Bastion Hotel with renewed energy, a clearer vision, and a stronger commitment to our goals, ready to implement what we’ve learned and continue making a meaningful impact across our hotels. We’ll see you next year at our 2027 Annual Coast Hotels Brand Conference!