Confession: Today is our 25th anniversary.

Accent Inns 25th anniversary rubber duck

25 years ago my dad Terry made the drastic decision to take a complete left turn in his career, leaving the construction industry to dip his toes into the fun, vibrant world of tourism.  Where was I during this chaotic time in his life? Did I even notice what was up with my dad? Well, I was an oblivious little 12 year old, being chauffeured around in the back seat of station wagon, and you know what? I did notice something weird happening.  My dad started humming.  He’d hum in this high pitched, off key sort of jubilant way.  When I’d say to him, “um, Dad? You’re like totally embarrassing me in front of my friends?!” he wouldn’t know what I was talking about!  “I’m not humming” he’d protest!

Yes, he was humming.  Accent Inns were humming along with a phenomenal inaugural year.  Plans were being made for expansion.  Terry was starting to travel the world enticing tourists from far away to give us a try.  And I’ve never seen my dad happier in his whole life.  He had finally found an industry that he loved, a job that inspired him, and a team that became his extended family.

Thanks to all our staff for 25 great years! seen here our Burnaby hotel staff celebrating an almost as important milestone, the 2010 olympics

And it’s that extended family who we chose to celebrate our 25^th anniversary with: our team.  Today marks the last day of our 25 Days of Giveaways where every day we have given our employees something whether it be a special 25^th anniversary edition of our in-room rubber ducks or draws for 500,000 More Rewards, 5 Beautyrest mattress sets, power tools, cinema gift packs, deluxe sheet sets and the list goes on and on.  It’s thanks to our team that we’ve been able to stay such a great locally owned company.

Mandy Farmer, proud to follow in her father's footsteps and looking forward to another 25 years!

So after 25 days of thanking our team, I’d now like to wish my dad Terry a happy 25th anniversary of achieving and finding his passion. It’s so wonderful to see someone who they love loving what they do. And all of us at Accent Inns have benefited dearly from it.  Thanks dad.