Business, it would seem, was always in Shawna Walker’s future.
“It’s always been my passion. I remember as a young person when other people would be out, I would be at a stationary store looking at the tools of the trade,” Walker recalls with a laugh.
Sitting in the warm, inviting conservatory outside Kate’s Café in the brand new Oak Bay Beach Hotel, it would seem this place was also her calling. “My memories of this hotel go back to when I was 16-years-old,” she reflects. “It’s been a fun ride – lots of challenges but also a lot of rewards.”
Walker, the Black Press Woman Business Owner of the Year, first worked at the original hotel as a catering waitress for high tea. “There were a lot of lovely ladies who took me under their wing and showed me the food and beverage side of things,” Walker remembers.
The experience gave Walker a good grounding in the hospitality business, encouraging her on to expand her horizons. In Calgary, Walker hoped to move into the business side of the industry, and at an interview for a marketing position she very much wanted, was initially advised “to go out and get some experience.” As she was driving away, Walker’s determination and perseverance got the better of her – she turned her car around and secured an entry-level job as a payroll clerk, the first step along the path to the job she really wanted.
“My passion was in sales and marketing; even before that was defined as a role in the industry, that was what I wanted to do.”
The mix of business and creativity appeals to Walker, who would return to Victoria due to her father’s serious illness. Back home, she landed at the Fairmont Empress as assistant to the director of sales. Walker later stepped away from the hotel industry for awhile, but after marrying Kevin Walker, whose father owned the grand hotel, was urged to come back to the place where it all began.
The two, who had initially met as teens working at the hotel, bought the business from Kevin’s father in 1996, but the planned-for lengthy succession was cut short by his passing three years later. “It was hard on everyone and there was a lot of pressure on us to carry on that family business.”
As a 1920 building built to residential standards, it became clear that the hotel would need to either be substantially renovated or rebuilt, so armed with a vision to not only maintain but build upon the Oak Bay Beach Hotel’s historic reputation, the Walkers embarked upon a grand plan: a brand new hotel with the charm and character of the original.
“We wanted an English country manor house that preserved the heritage of the original Oak Bay Beach Hotel in a modern, state-of-the-art building,” Walker says, recalling how they painstakingly dismantled parts of the old building, down to the bricks Snug bartender Joe Smith hand-cleaned to be re-used in the fireplace for Kate’s Café and the new Snug.
In 2007, while working through the construction process for the hotel, the Walkers also launched a new business, Discovery Club, an equity-based travel club that allows members to travel the globe.
Working together, “it’s a privilege but it’s not easy,” says Walker, who took time away from the hotel for 10 years to care for their two daughters, Kate, now manager of Kate’s Café, and Brooklyn, who worked with Discovery Club before becoming a mom. “When we made the decision for me to come back, we were more mature and with communication and a respect for each other’s strengths, we have been an amazing team. We complement each other.”
While Kevin is very good at presenting the public face of the hotel, “I’m very organized,” Walker says, “and I think I bring to this organization a heart for people. Both Kevin and I have that – we value the people on our team.”
At the same time, “we’ve surrounded ourselves with amazing people,” she says, noting that it’s important to recognize your own skills, but also where there are other people who can do a job better.
Walker has also learned over the years to strive for balance between work and home, something both she and Kevin also encourage and support for their staff. “The whole philosophy of health and wellness is very important to our culture,” she says. By pursuing healthy lifestyle choices, for example, staff can build credits toward a ‘mental health day.’
“We want to nurture people to have a balanced life.”
Today, while the Oak Bay Beach Hotel is very much tied to its past, Walker has her sites set on the future. “We want to be Canada’s top destination resort in five years,” she says, recalling how on their 30th wedding anniversary, she and Kevin re-visited the night they were engaged. “I said to Kevin, ‘Could you have imagined this 30 years ago?’ The answer was no, but we could definitely imagine it eight years ago.”
