A food and beverage director for the Inner Harbour property
Fairmont Empress has appointed Demian Fuentes as director of food and beverage. The Victoria, British Columbia property announced the hire on October 19, 2026. Fuentes takes responsibility for the hotel’s food and beverage operations and for its dining outlets.
The announcement states that Fuentes will oversee food and beverage operations, including strategic growth initiatives and guest experience across the property’s culinary and hospitality offerings.
Four outlets inside the appointment
Four venues fall inside the role: Tea at the Empress, Q at the Empress, The Bengal and DASH. Each runs a different operating model.
Tea at the Empress
The property states that the service pours more than 250,000 cups of tea a year.
Fuentes will oversee that tea service. The announcement says the aim is to preserve its sense of occasion while adding seasonal touches. It describes the service as part of Victoria’s identity, attended by visitors and local residents.
The hotel’s dining page records the tradition as running for over a century and serves it in the Lobby Lounge. It lists freshly baked scones, finger sandwiches and pastries.
Q at the Empress and the next phase
Fuentes will also oversee the next phase of Q at the Empress. Plans for Q include an experience connected to the coast, the seasons, and the region’s local gatherers and producers, as the announcement states.
The outlet carries a raw bar and a menu the property describes as shaped by the sea, the season and the land, drawing on British Columbia and Vancouver Island fields and coastal waters. The room looks onto Victoria’s Inner Harbour.
The Bengal and DASH
The Bengal is the hotel’s breakfast room and, per the announcement, one of Victoria’s largest private dining rooms. The property describes the space with light-filled interiors, heritage-style beams and velvet seating.
DASH is a grab-and-go coffee shop in the hotel’s south wing, per the announcement. The property places it beside the Bengal entrance and serves coffee and pastries there. The hotel’s dining page derives the name from Queen Victoria’s spaniel.
More than two decades across four regions
Fuentes arrives with more than two decades of international experience. He has held senior leadership positions with luxury hospitality and lifestyle dining groups.
His career has included work in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Australia. The announcement lists international expansion, financial optimization and executive team development among his experience. It also names oversight of multi-unit portfolios, pre-openings, restaurant concept development and financial performance.
The property behind the appointment
Fairmont Empress sits on Victoria’s Inner Harbour. The property calls itself the Castle on the Coast and lists 431 guest rooms.
Its own pages cite the number one Canadian city hotel placing in Travel + Leisure’s 2026 World’s Best Awards, a top Western Canadian hotel placing in the 2025 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards, and a MICHELIN Key.
What the announcement leaves open
The announcement gives no effective date for the appointment. It names no predecessor and no reporting line. It states no team size and no commercial targets for the food and beverage division.
The timing of the Q at the Empress next phase goes unstated, as does any capital figure attached to it.