Business View Magazine - Nov 2023

VOLUME 9, ISSUE 11 LOC INTERNAT IONAL 187 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE 2 Company prospers during COVID It’s an obvious fact that the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the travel and hospitality industries. Business as usual for hotels, for example, virtually disappeared overnight and the normal cycles of renovating and upgrading, the key to LOC International’s revenue stream, were disrupted. “Most of the major chains gave all of their owners and operators a bit of a break during COVID and right after,” explains Vincent Beaudet, LOC International’s CEO. “They didn’t push what we call in our industry a PIP (Property Improvement Plan), which is upgrading their fixtures, furniture, and equipment to be up to the brands’ standards.” One might reasonably assume, then, that the COVID years were a bleak time for the company. And yet, even when PIPs were in abeyance, LOC International actually grew throughout the pandemic. In fact, over the last three years, the firm was ranked as one of Canada’s top-growing companies by the Globe and Mail. As Beaudet notes, that somewhat counter-intuitive dynamic was due largely to an unforeseen industry shakeup when travelers were staying home. “COVID was