Virginia continues to explain how she built the house on the location first, first, but that both the house and the business were built with the view in mind. “When I built my house, it wasn’t the typical design for the area. There’s a tradition in many small communities in Nova Scotia where the locals take tours of people’s homes when they’re built or renovated. What people wanted to do more than anything was stand on the deck and see the view. During that first year I must have had a hundred people tell me that this was the perfect place to build a lodge or hotel because of the view.” So, taking that under advisement and looking at a fantastic business opportunity to help grow tourism on the island, Virginia built the original hotel with the help of the Atlantic Canada Oppor- tunities Agency. At the time of the original build came with a lot of restrictions, so Virginia is open about not truly ending up with what we had in mind for the lodge. She quickly realized that they didn’t have enough rooms as they were almost immediately past capacity when they opened the lodge and knew that if they were going to survive as a business, they would need more rooms and
so the off-season renovation began and to be honest have never really stopped.
“There’s a tradition in many small communities in Nova Scotia where the locals take tours of people’s homes when they’re built or reno- vated. What people wanted to do more than anything was stand on the deck and see the view. During that first year I must have had a hundred people tell me that this was the perfect place to build a lodge or hotel because of the view.”
ing the Bay of Fundy and with an amazing view of the very busy Grand Passage. It should come as no surprise that Virginia Tudor, the owner, and operator of the Brier Island Lodge has been extremely busy over the off-season upgrading the lodge as that has been part of her business plan for over 30 years now. Virginia is proud to tell that before she had the lodge, she tried the bed and breakfast scene for a year or two. She learned from that experience that there was an opportunity to transition into the hotel business. “There was so much demand and only one other bed and breakfast on the island” said Virginia. She goes on to tell us about having up-to 50 people sleeping in that house every night during peak season. “It was really apparent that we needed to have a lodge here,” said Virginia. Virginia continues to explain how she built the house on the location first, first, but that both the house and the business were built with the view in mind. “When I built my house, it wasn’t the typical design for the area. There’s a tradi-
“There was so much demand and only one other bed and breakfast on the island”
tion in many small communities in Nova Scotia where the locals take tours of people’s homes when they’re built or renovated. What people wanted to do more than anything was stand on the deck and see the view. During that first year I must have had a hundred people tell me that this was the perfect place to build a lodge or hotel because of the view.”
“It was really apparent that we needed to have a lodge here,”
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MAY/JUNE 2022 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MAY/JUNE 2022
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