A LITTLE HISTORY

BEN & SHEILA Founded, designed, built, furnished, decorated and opened the Inn the summer of 1974 with 16 rooms. THE INN Now completing its 34th consecutive season of operation. The Inn continues to be managed by its original founder & owner Sheila Wise. She is hands on, on site manager meeting & greeting guests & doing her utmost to see that standards of excellence are maintained throughout the resort.
RELAIS & CHATEAUX The Inn was admitted to the Relais & Chateaux family in 1986 as a “Yellow” category Relais at once and then was elevated to “Gold” making it one of the only 30 Gold properties in the world for about 6 years and the only Gold in Canada. With the introduction of a new Purple designation reserved for a dozen of the most opulent & unique properties in the organization like Hotel du Crillion, (see others in guide) all other Gold including ours were consolidated under yellow. This category includes some of the finest smaller properties in the chain. While a number of yellow shield Relais properties have many similar attributes as the Inn at Manitou.. very few if any contain all the amenities, services and attributes of the Inn (see below)
Unique Location Located along the shore of an unspoiled, unpopulated beautiful lake giving many of its rooms spectacular views.
The Inn is in a county, natural setting in the midst of forests, fields, lakes & rivers, closest village is 5KM.

STAFF RATIO & PROFESSIONALISM

The ratio of staff to guests is 70 staff to 60 guests. These staff are 90% European professionals who are certified, trained, apprenticed and experienced in the Restaurant/Resort/Hotel Industry having worked at some of the worlds best properties and Michelin Star establishments.
They are recruited by Sheila (not by a commercial impersonal agency), mostly in the UK (Scotland, Ireland & England), France & Germany. Sheila receives literally hundreds of C.V's each year, screens them and personally interviews each & every applicant early December in Paris & London, whose qualifications (& availability) meet her requirements, Chefs, Chef de Rang, Maitre D', Sommeliers, Spa Therapists, Receptionists, Concierge etc etc.
These people are not young University students aspiring to be Doctors, Lawyers etc but experienced motivated professionals committed to their chosen profession in the Hotel/Restaurant industry and give their best efforts at all times realizing that their performance will impact on their chosen career. Thus the quality of the personnel is consistently outstanding, admired & applauded by our guests.
STAFF BREAKDOWN Restaurant 3 Maitre D' 2 Sommeliers 8 Chef De Rang 4 Commis
Kitchen – all certified with CAP Cuisine, BEP, BTH, BTS from France, England, Scotland, Germany & Canada Head Chef Sous Chef 6 Chefs De Partie 2 or 3 Commis Head Pastry Chef Pastry Chefs De Partie
Bartenders - 2 certified & experienced Front Desk - 5 certified & experienced - from Canada, Scotland, England & Germany Spa - 7 UK trained, registered & experienced Tennis – 5 players/coaches from US, Australia, South Africa & India. Golf – 2 players/teachers – Canadian