When local voters head to the polls for the 2026 municipal election, they'll be asked whether a hotel should be attached to the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre (PTCC).
Penticton City Council has approved the spending of $75,000 to hold a referendum on the issue in conjunction with the next municipal election. A total of $50,000 of those funds will be used for the initial design of the potential hotel.
Council members voted 5-1 in favour of moving ahead with the work. Coun. Campbell Watt was opposed.
Although the idea of attaching a hotel to the PTCC has been explored several times since 1965 鈥� the year the facility was built 鈥� it returned to the spotlight earlier this year following a notice of motion from Coun. Isaac Gilbert.
鈥淲e have a deficiency of hotel accommodations in the city,鈥� Gilbert argued at the time, citing B.C.'s new legislation on short-term rentals.
Staff appeared before council on Aug. 6, and presented what it would take for a hotel to be attached to the 59-year-old facility.
Blake Laven, the city's director of development services, says construction on the land today would require a referendum.
It is unknown where exactly the hotel would be built on the land, or how many rooms it would contain.
"There's a lot of questions that we want answered before we engage the public on a referendum," Laven added.
Travel Penticton 鈥� a destination marketing organization for the area 鈥� expressed skepticism when presented with the idea, according to Laven.
"They'd prefer to see more focus on promoting the Lakeside Resort, which does have an attached hotel and conference facility," he said.
When Gilbert presented his notice of motion in April, he said event organizers use an app that filters out hotels when they aren鈥檛 connected to a convention centre.
Ten conventions and a total of 190 events have been held at PTCC in 2024.
And since 2014, according to city staff, the venue has hosted an average of nine conventions and about 146 events yearly.
"I certainly struggle with this time-wise," Watt said. "I've always supported a hotel there in previous terms, but ultimately since then, there's been two hotels built very nearby."
Watt also questioned how many more conventions and events the city would host if a hotel was attached to the facility.
"I can't tell you how many more it would add, but we do know those multi-day conventions are huge economic impacts for the city," Laven replied.
Travel Penticton is currently commissioning a study to quantify the economic impacts conventions produce for the city, he added.
Staff will now engage a professional with specialty in hotel design to determine options for the site.
City officials will also launch a public engagement program to inform the public about the potential for a hotel attached to the centre, with information about the referendum.
