Hospitality houses to entertain corporate world, and a few fans, at 2010 Games

VANCOUVER, B.C. - An upscale bistro on Vancouver's Granville Island will feel a lot like Switzerland during the 2010 Winter Olympics, serving chocolate fondue and, of course, Swiss cheese along with other authentic dishes from the Western European country.

The House of Switzerland will be one of many so-called hospitality houses that will be set up by competing countries, sports teams and sponsors during the 2010 Games, turning the city's downtown into a regular United Nations of food, drink and entertainment.

The countries or organizations staging the houses spend millions of dollars to take over local restaurants, bars or even custom-built temporary structures, and the sites have become an integral - if mostly private - part of every Olympics.

Bridges Restaurant will be plastered with Switzerland's iconic white cross flag and have daily activities such as quizzes about the country and chocolate tasting on Valentine's Day.

"People can meet there, can learn something about Switzerland , can enjoy a Swiss atmosphere," says Xenia Schlegel of the country's Department of Foreign Affairs.

"We're adding a few Swiss people to the existing (restaurant) staff, who treat the guests in a Swiss kind of way."

The Swiss government is spending about $2.5 million to set up at Bridges and at another restaurant in Whistler, and both will play host to Swiss broadcasters.

Ireland's house will be at a downtown Irish pub and Russia's will showcase the 2014 Olympics in Sochi at a giant waterfront globe that houses the city's Science Centre. Even the German state of Saxony will be there, setting up at the Vancouver Rowing Club.

For the most part, the houses are off-limits to the public, reserved for team members and their families, government officials and corporate sponsors.

However, there will be chances for fans to get inside a few of them, such as the crowd favourite Holland Heineken House, the Jamaican boblseigh house or the Swiss house.

"It goes hand in hand with what Switzerland stands for: we're open, we're neutral," says Schlegel. "It's deeply rooted in the Swiss tradition."

The Canadian government and the provinces and territories will set up pavilions, designed to show off the country to visitors and potential investors. They, too, will welcome the public.

Every jurisdiction in the country, as well as the federal government, will have a spot at the Games.

The four Atlantic provinces announced their combined pavilion this week, featuring a performance by Nova Scotia fiddler Ashley MacIsaac.

Atlantic Canada House will showcase performers from the region, local cuisine and feature nightly kitchen parties.

But most of the hospitality houses, such as the sites for the United States and Canada, will be invite-only affairs for athletes and their families to relax during the Games, and for Canadian sport officials and their sponsors to rub elbows.

Canada Olympic House, organized by the Canadian Olympic Committee, will take over an entire floor of the Bay store in downtown Vancouver and another space in Whistler, and the guest list will be small.

David Bedford of the COC says the main purpose is to provide a space for the athletes to get away from all the Olympic hubbub and ensure they're not worrying about whether their families have something to do and a place to hang out.

Bedford says when Canada's houses were open to public during Olympics in the 1990s, it became too much for the athletes.

"It was becoming a little bit too raucous and a little bit too much of a party atmosphere," says Bedford. "When that happened, the athletes didn't want to come and that meant the families didn't really want to come. It just wasn't fulfilling our needs in the same way."

Bedford readily acknowledges that entertaining sponsors, and allowing the sponsors themselves to invite in their own guests, has become a vital part of hospitality houses at Olympics.

"We absolutely, unequivocally not only need to, but want to, make sure our corporate partners are happy and engaged and can touch the Olympic movement up close," he says.

"Because without their investments, we can't do all the things that we do to get the athletes ready."

If Canada Olympic House is a quiet oasis for athletes, the Molson Canadian Hockey House wants to be party central.

The massive 7,500-square-metre facility located near the Olympic ice hockey arena will broadcast all of the men's and women's games on giant screens. In between, it will feature performances from the likes of musicians Sam Roberts and Colin James and comedians Brent Butt and Sean Cullen.

With tickets ranging from $450 to $1,000 per day - or $8,500 for the entire 17 days - organizers are selling the spot as a place where businesses can treat their clients to a high-priced Olympic experience.

Still, Jordan Bitove, whose company Vision is putting together the site, says fans are also signing up for a chance to immerse themselves in Olympic hockey and potentially watch the Games with NHL players and alumni.

"There's a huge demand with the corporate world, and that's really the aspect that we've looked at in terms of offering the premium hospitality experience," says Bitove.

"Then there's the fans of the sport that they would have access to this facility that they could literally be rubbing shoulders with the team."

Another high-profile house that's inviting in the public is the Holland Heineken House, which will highlight the country while serving, what else, Heineken beer.

Heineken, which pays for and organizes the house under contract from the Dutch government, has had problems with building permits, obtaining a liquor license to host up to 4,000 people a day and securing visas for hundreds of workers it wants to bring over from Holland.

Ineke De Hoog of the consulate general of the Netherlands in Vancouver says the problems are slowly being worked out.

Together with the provincial and territorial pavilions, the head of the Vancouver Olympic organizer says the houses and pavilions are an integral part of the Games.

"All of these houses have a different purpose - these ones (the provincial pavilions) are about engaging the public and sharing," says CEO John Furlong.

"All of the partners have different goals and different objectives, and each piece of it will be part of the whole experience for people who get to see it."