A restaurant and two suites at Nelson’s Hume Hotel have been closed after a guest broke a sprinkler head in their room and caused significant water damage to the historic building.

Hume general manager Ryan Martin said the guest was staying in the premier Ladybird suite Saturday night when he decided to fix a sprinkler head in the washroom that was allegedly leaking. The sprinkler broke off and for the next 45 minutes water poured out.

Martin said the water first seeped through the floor into another premium suite, then again into the top level of Mike’s Place Pub and finally into the street level Library Lounge restaurant.

The washrooms and floors are ruined in both suites and the Library Lounge has been closed indefinitely due to ceiling and floor damage.

“It’s just so disheartening,” said Martin.

No official estimate has taken place but Martin said he expects damages to the 125-year-old building to cost at least $200,000.

Both the Ladybird and Barrister’s suites had been booked up and guests who had reservations have been notified about the incident. The Library Lounge’s nine-person staff meanwhile will be out of work, although Martin said the hotel will try to find fill-in shifts for them elsewhere.

Damage to the pub was limited and Martin said it will stay open as well as the rest of the hotel.

Martin praised Nelson Fire and Rescue for their fast response.

“They were very helpful in trying to mitigate water damage. The room that it happened in there was massive amounts of water pooling in the bathroom. So they’re literally filling buckets and dumping the water down the drain.”

The guest, who Martin believes had been drinking at the time of the incident, was asked to leave the hotel.

The man still showed up the next morning for his complimentary breakfast, which he was denied.

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