Thunder Bay globetrotter hopes to open a hostel in the north core

A Thunder Bay, Ont. globetrotter plans to bring hostel-style accommodation to the downtown north core if city council grants her request for a by-law variance.

The Haven will connect experience-hungry travellers with all that the city has to offer, according to its president and CEO Holly Watson.

"We're really going to filter our clientele into our outdoor activities we have available, the food scene downtown and all the art things that are going on. So it's going to be a pretty big communal activity centre."

Watson, who is scheduled to speak to council Monday night about her plan, has secured a tentative location for the hostel on Ambrose Street.

She will ask council to reduce the minimum room-sizes currently required by the city's rooming house by-law to make way for the hostel's bunk-bed-fitted dorms.

"I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel," Watson said.

Needs approval by May 17

"I'm just looking for a few cubic meters per room to be off to allow different styles of rooms. There are private rooms that are regular size with en suites, but also hostels often have dormitory options, which the Haven will."

Watson has been dreaming of owning a hostel since she was 18, she said.

She has travelled extensively through Europe, Southeast Asia, and North and Central America during breaks from her job as an environmental consultant.

After living on the west coast for five years and spending last spring and summer working in a hostel on Loch Ness in Scotland, Watson decided it was time to make her dream come true.

"I love where I'm from, and I felt like I'd done enough travelling to hunker down for a while and really get started on this and let the travellers come to me," she said.

Her long term goal is to affiliate with Hostelling International and be featured in aLonely Planet guide, she said.

Watson's purchase of the Ambrose Street property is contingent on council approving the variance by May 17.

If the sale goes through, Watson hopes to launch the Haven in November or December.