St. Brendan's Motel

St. Brendan’s Motel

            What is now St. Brendan’s Motel in St. Lunaire-Griquet began as a hardware store that ran until the collapse of the cod fishery in 1992. The building sat vacant for several years, until the approaching millennium and subsequent Viking celebrations at Lanse aux Meadows presented a new opportunity. Roy Manuel, part-owner (along with brother Percy Manuel, June Coles, and Helen Manuel), drew up the initial plans for a motel that began to take form as other essentials, such as a sewer system, fell into place. The motel opened for business in 2000 with eleven rooms. The owners have recognized the importance of maintaining their rooms, with near yearly renovations including the addition of two extra rooms. Four of their rooms include a single Queen bed, with the rest including two Double beds. All rooms have outside entrances, full bathrooms, mini fridges, flat screen televisions, and more. Their current Canada Select Accomodations rating is 3.5 stars.

            Roy has noted some changes in the tourism industry in the local area. In particular, the Motel is noticing more guests coming earlier in the season, with their first guests for this year arriving in early May. He suggested more emphasis needs to be placed on advertising and marketing things for tourists to do in St. Lunaire-Griquet, including the several hiking trails in the area. One trail, though no longer in good condition, leads to the motel’s namesake, St. Brendan’s Boulder, which displays interesting inscriptions possibly dating back to the sixth century. As we chatted, Roy passionately noted several times the importance of offering guests to the area a slate of things to do, which not only reinforces a positive experience in the minds of visitors, it helps support and present the unique features of the community.