Michael Rosenberg, a guest at the Best Western Plus hotel from Miami, Fla., saw the sign and knew right away the city of Prince George had a perception problem on its hands.
Posted on the back door that leads to the parking lot of the hotel on the western outskirts of the city along Highway 16, the sign from hotel management read:
“Dear Guests. There are criminals at work in our city and neighbourhoods. No area is safe. No home or business is immune to the whims of a criminal. Poverty, addiction and mental illness are part of a huge underlying problem facing us all.
“While we do have some surveillance cameras in and around the hotel, we know all that cameras do not prevent crimes from taking place. If something happens and the cameras pick it up we can sometimes see a grainy image of the person committing the crime. However, they are most often wearing dark hoodies, facial coverings or masks.
“Our staff are trained to keep themselves safe at work. They are not trained as security guards or police, nor are they expected to intervene or try to stop a crime that is already happening. We do have access to cameras at the front desk but we simply can’t always have eyes everywhere. Please do your part to jeep yourselves, your belongings and your vehicle safe.”
The sign went on to warn guests not to leave valuables in the car and store items of value in the hotel or in their rooms and not leave them on the seat or floor of vehicles. Guests are also warned to keep their vehicles locked and not leave them running with the keys in the ignition.
Rosenberg, visiting Prince George on a holiday with his wife Nancy that had taken them to Alaska, saw what was posted and knew right away who he should contact, having run for office as a Miami-Dade County commissioner candidate in 2020. He sent an email to Prince George mayor and council late Wednesday night, which immediately set off alarm bells.
The email was shared with city administration and Tourism Prince George and Mayor Simon Yu personally contacted Rosenberg. He invited him and his wife Nancy to meet him at the mayor’s office and they went to a noon-hour barbecue on Thursday in front of city hall.
“All of us councillors and administration were quite shocked, we collectively as people feel there’s no part of the city that warrants that kind of warning,” said Yu.
“This was an overreaction after only one incident in the parking lot where one window got smashed and for whatever reason they put out a statement to warn there’s not a place in Prince George that’s safe. What kind of message is that to welcome visitors?
“Mike was shocked, to him it’s a relatively small city of Prince George and if (the hotel) feels this way then we must have a big problem. I invited him to the office for a mayor’s welcome and we both agreed it was a complete misrepresentation of the city.”
Coun. Brian Skakun told the Citizen about the sign and the uproar it was it was generating among city council and administration and suggested a reporter go to the hotel to see if the sign was still posted, which it was.
Best Western Plus general manager Gianina Gaspar, said the sign predates the day she was hired in July 2024 and had been posted by the maintenance manager. They’ve had to call police to get illegal campers removed from the adjoining greenbelt but she says there’s been no criminal activity in the area in the past year.
“Our regular guests know, we don’t have those problems here, we don’t have break-ins,” said Gaspar. “We had one in the past, when I was not here.”
Gaspar said the sign has quite likely been on the door of the hotel for five years, ever since it opened on Aug. 3, 2020.
She agreed to take it down immediately and reword it to take out the negative connotations about the city while still warning guests to be liable for their own belongings.
“I see the other side of the perspective,” said Gaspar. “I should have taken more care about the wording. I apologize for anybody who was offended, it was not my intention.
“We’re here to promote tourism in this company and in this town and I’m proud to live in Prince George.”
Carmen Herman, interim chief executive officer of Tourism Prince George, was relieved to learn the hotel sign will be revised, knowing the original version has likely been seen by thousands of visitors. She hopes the fallout won’t damage the city’s reputation as a friendly and safe place for residents and visitors.
“We always work with our hotel partners and the city to improve the visitor experience and unfortunately this was just a poorly-worded notice,” said Herman.
“It was very shocking to see, but when everyone travels there are those travel precautions and there’s signage that says do not leave valuables in cars and you see that in every city,” she said. “Everyone in the tourism world wants the safety of our visitors and we want that good light and that is the standard messaging.
“It is a very well-respected hotel amongst our visitors so we want it to stay that way. It’s run by an amazing team. Gianina has been doing an awesome job since she’s been there and I really don’t want it to be a reflection of the work they’ve been doing.”
Yu said fact the sign was posted for years before anyone pointed it out to council highlights the need for local residents to communicate with city officials when there’s an issue that needs to be addressed.
“Tourism is important to this area, we’re at the junction of Highway 97 and 16, we have an international airport and we have a lot of Americans going to Alaska and we need to promote the area in a positive way,” said Yu.
“We as citizens of Prince George, every single one of us, we should be ambassadors for the city and any situation that warrants our attention to encourage or discourage tourism, we should know about it.”
