How it started
Beginnings
In June 1962, William Pattison and his business partners opened the 68-room Delport Inn in Richmond, BC. That September, Western Hotels changed the location's name to the Vancouver Airport Inn, and assumed management until January 1964.
During 1965–1967, Delta Developments built four motels on Vancouver Island and leased or purchased two further motels in the BC interior. Driver Developments, which bought Delta Developments in 1969, experienced serious financial difficulties from its diverse investment portfolio within months. In 1970, Delta Hotels Limited assumed ownership and operation of the hotels and motels.
By mid-1974, the chain had been reduced to four properties.
Beyond BC
In 1975, Delta entered the Toronto market. By 1980, the six BC properties matched the six out-of-province properties. By 1985, there were four in BC, four in Ontario, and five across four other provinces. For example in Quebec, where in Montreal the Delta Centre Ville was operated. The owners, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Great-West Lifeco, and Bill Pattison, sold the chain to the Realstar Group of Toronto in 1988. A decade later, Realstar and partner Lai Sun Group resold it to Canadian Pacific Hotels (CP Hotels). During the 1990s, Delta operated a single U.S. hotel: the Delta Court of Flags Hotel in Orlando, Florida.
From Wikipedia’s article on Delta Hotels, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2