CHOICE LOCATIONS

Details

Published: 09 June 2023

The Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars has now opened as the ninth Hyatt-branded property in London. Formerly a Crowne Plaza property, the Grade-II listed hotel is situated on the site of Bridewell Palace, the former residence of King Henry VIII. The hotel has 204 bedrooms and suites, three restaurants and bars plus 43 sq-mt of events space. It is located in New Bridge Street close to Blackfriars Bridge and Blackfriars station.

Dalata Hotels group has just acquired the 89-bedroom Apex Hotel London Wall. It will reopen, renamed the Clayton Hotel London Wall, and will be the group's fifth London property. Dalata now operate 11 Clayton hotels and five Maldron hotels in the UK.

RIBA at 66 Portland Place in Marylebone, London has opened a new accessible meeting space on its ground floor which is now available for corporate event hire. The  Wornum Room - named after the architect George Grey Wornum who designed the Royal Institute of British Architects' headquarters – offers contemporary space and will seat up to 10 delegates around a large round table. It is available for day or half-day meetings.

Meridian Hotels has just acquired Marsh Farm Hotel, a converted Grade II-listed country house located on the outskirts of the market town of Royal Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. Marsh Farm Hotel has 50 bedrooms plus a restaurant and bar, seven conference and events suites plus private gardens. A refurbishment programme is planned. It is the fourth hotel to join the Meridian Group.

Bournemouth West Cliff Hotel has just completed a £500,000 refurbishment of 20 of its bedrooms -the first stage of a renovation project. The refurbishment is part of a major upgrade of the hotel’s 83 bedrooms.

Plans have been approved to create a 20-storey, 154-bedroom Motto by Hilton hotel in Manchester's Laystall Street. The hotel will feature a ground level café/bar/restaurant and gym. It will be located in Manchester’s Northern Quarter a short walk from Manchester Piccadilly station. We will advise proposed opening date in due course.

Plans have been submitted to convert the historic Buile Hill Mansion in Salford into an events venue. Built between 1825 and 1827, it was until recently the home of the Lancashire Mining Museum. The building is now in a state of severe disrepair but if the plans are successful, restoration work could start on-site in the summer 2023. We will monitor its progress.

Plans to build a 10 apartment hotel on the upper floors of a prominent listed building in the centre of Leeds have been approved. The new hotel will be above a diner in Duncan Street. The space is currently uninhabited. More details to follow.

PPHE Hotels have announced plans to open a second Art’otel in London. Art’otel Hoxton is expected to open in early 2024. It will be a 27-storey hotel with 356 bedrooms and suites, a restaurant and bar, events space, an art gallery plus leisure facilities including an indoor swimming pool. It will join Art’otel London Battersea Power Station in the Capital.

Plans have been submitted to convert former County Council offices in the centre of Preston into a 65 room apart-hotel. The property is the former Park Hotel, a Grade II-listed building dating from 1835 located in East Cliff. Under the plans, the building would be converted to include co-working space and a gym plus an accessible café and restaurant.

The Grand Hotel Birmingham is opening a Garden Terrace this month. The outdoor space has been created in partnership with Malfy Gin as a summer oasis for sipping gin. However, the space is also available to hire for private events. The Grand Hotel Birmingham has 185 bedrooms and suites, a restaurant and bar as well as extensive conference and events suites. The hotel reopened in May last year following completion of a £50 million restoration and refurbishment programme. It is located on Colmore Row overlooking St Philip’s Cathedral, a stone’s throw from Birmingham Snow Hill station.

Finally, plans to transform a River Mersey ferry into an events space have been approved by Liverpool City Council. The ship, The Royal Daffodil, was constructed in 1958 and began service in 1962 ‘ferrying across the Mersey’ until it was decommissioned in 2012. It is currently being refurbished. Plans would see the promenade deck converted into a bar with outdoor space, while the main deck would be a restaurant. The other decks would house 13 guest rooms and a heritage museum with space for conferences, exhibitions and concerts. We will monitor developments.

Details

Published: 19 May 2023

Hotel news this week includes:

The Grand Brighton Hotel is preparing to undergo a multi-million-pound refurbishment which will see all 202 bedrooms, restaurants and meeting facilities upgraded. The hotel is now part of the Fattal Hotel Group which also operates NYX, Leonardo Hotels and Jury’s Inns.

Hyatt Hotels are planning to move its Andaz London Liverpool Street Hotel into a new building as part of the overall regeneration plans for London Liverpool Street station. The existing hotel site will be integrated within the station. The planned new six-storey hotel will incorporate 160,000 sq ft of hotel space with conference, banqueting and leisure facilities. A final decision on whether the plans go ahead is not expected before 2024.

Meliá Hotels International group has just completed a five-year, £40 million project to refurbish all 581 bedrooms and suites at the Meliá White House Hotel in central London. The hotel is located in a Grade II-listed building at the southeast corner of Regent’s Park with a restaurant and bar, a gym plus nine fully equipped meeting and events suites for up to 180 delegates.

Staying in London, Easyhotel Paddington is to undergo a £1million refurbishment of all 47 bedrooms with new mattresses and upgraded bathrooms, as well as updates to the communal areas. The hotel will remain open throughout with work expected to be complete by this September.

The Royal Angus Hotel in the centre of Birmingham is due to be relaunched later this year - fully refurbished as a new aparthotel under the banner Nite Nite with 161 studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments and suites across nine floors. We will monitor progress and report back.

The Mere Hotel and Golf Resort on the outskirts of Knutsford in Cheshire is to become Accor’s fifth Fairmont branded hotel in the UK following a planned major refurbishment. The new Fairmont Hotel will include 120 bedrooms, including 27 suites. New wellness and leisure facilities will be developed to complement the hotel’s 18-hole championship golf course. Expect a relaunch mid-to-late 2024.

30^th May 2023 is the planned opening date for the new Estelle Manor Hotel and private members' club in Oxfordshire. Formerly known as Eynsham Hall country house hotel, the hotel is now part of the Ennismore Group, owners of Gleneagles in Auchterarder as well as the Hoxton hotel brand. Estelle Manor is located on a 60-acre estate surrounded by 3,000 acres of parkland. It features 108 bedrooms, four restaurants including a brasserie and an all-day dining space, a gym, a spa and a 25-metre swimming pool plus private houses and woodland cottages. We await details of the meeting and events facilities at Estelle Manor.

The Inn Collection Group has reopened The Swan at Grasmere in the Lake District following an 18-month refurbishment programme. The Swan at Grasmere has 82 bedrooms, a brasserie restaurant and bar plus a health club, spa and meeting facilities for up to 100 delegates.

The Tempus is a new ‘Alice in Wonderland-inspired’ hotel which has recently opened on the 150-acre Charlton Hall Estate in Alnwick, Northumberland. The Tempus has 15 bedrooms and suites plus a ground floor bar, restaurant and orangery offering all-day dining.

Zeal Hotels is planning to open the first lifecycle net zero carbon hotel following an agreement with IHG. The Zeal Hotel Exeter in Exeter Science Park will include 142 bedrooms plus a restaurant, bar, gym, gardens and car charging points. The hotel is set to open in 2024 and is aiming for a minimum BREEAM rating of Excellent, with a target of Outstanding.

Meanwhile the Lamington Group are planning to redevelop a site close to Manchester’s Piccadilly station into a 31 storey hotel to be operated by Room2 and aiming to be the country’s first net zero tower. The hotel would include a 130-cover rooftop restaurant and a net zero lifestyle museum. A planning application is expected to be submitted to Manchester City Council this summer. 

Finally, lifestyle hotel brand art’otel, has announced British street artist D*Face as the Signature Artist for its new art’otel London Hoxton which is due to open in early 2024.  D*Face is a ‘prolific contemporary urban artist’ so expect bedrooms which combine bold art, design and graffiti. art’otel London Hoxton will include 357 bedrooms and suites across 27 floors plus restaurants and bar, an art gallery and events space plus leisure facilities including an indoor swimming pool.

Enjoy your week and we will be back next week with another news summary update.

Details

Published: 04 May 2023

A short selection of news stories you may have missed over the last fortnight includes:

The Doubletree by Hilton Hotel at the Coventry Building Society Arena is about to be renovated as part of a major refurbishment of the main Arena.  The hotel lobby and reception will be upgraded together with the hotel’s rooms and bathrooms. At the Coventry CBS Arena itself, the front entrance is getting a revamp as well as seeing improvements to  the boardroom and meeting rooms.

IHG Hotels is planning to introduce its Vignette Collection to the UK with the first opening at The Halyard at Ropewalks Liverpool later this year. The Halyard at Ropewalks Liverpool, Vignette Collection will be a 133-bedroom hotel set in the historic Ropewalks district of Liverpool. It will feature a restaurant, an on-site gym, conferencing facilities and roof top terrace.

Staying in Liverpool plans have been submitted to develop 150 hotel suites on floors one to seven of the Cavern Walks building in the city centre. The planned development would also feature food and beverage outlets plus events space on the upper ground floor, mezzanine and first floors.

Aparthotel brand Locke is planning to open its sixth Locke-branded aparthotel in London in July 2023 – located in Cromwell Road, Kensington and Chelsea.  Ember Locke will feature 121 apartments, ranging from studios to duplex one-bedroom apartments over eight floors. It will feature a lobby and common area, a coffee shop, bar, restaurant, co-working space, meeting rooms plus a gym, laundry room and garden.

The Swan Hotel in Grasmere in the Lake District has reopened following an 18-month refurbishment. The Swan Hotel, now part of the Inn Collection Group, has seen all 38 bedrooms and the restaurant undergo a multi-million pound revamp.

Manchester City Football Club has submitted plans to build a 400-bedroom hotel at its Etihad Stadium in the city. The hotel is part of a planned £300million three-year-long revamp of the stadium. We will monitor developments.

The Pig hotel group is planning an expansion with two new hotels opening in the next two years. The Pig on the Farm will be the first, set in a 16^th century stone-built farmhouse in 53 acres of farmland on the edge of the Walton Estate in south Warwickshire. It will have 35 bedrooms. Opening is planned for 2024. The second hotel will be The Pig-at Groombridge, a moated manor house in the village of Groombridge, southwest of Tunbridge Wells. The Pig at Groombridge is expected to open in 2025 with  40 bedrooms featuring views across the gardens and vineyard.

Plans have been submitted to convert the former Town Hall in Skegness into a 57-bedroom hotel if plans are approved. The Town Hall was built in 1926 as a convalescent home and converted to use as the Town Hall in 1964.

Budget brand EasyHotel group is committing a £4.5m investment to reduce its carbon footprint at all 12 of its UK sites. The improvements are expected to reduce the group's CO2 emissions by 45% by 2025.

Lord's Cricket Ground in London has opened two new meeting and events spaces in The Compton and Edrich Suites. Both are situated on the balcony level with views across the ground to the Pavilion. These two additions bring the total number of events spaces at the ground to 22.

Plans to build a major events and conference centre in Southport have been approved. The new Marine Lakes Event Centre development will replace the former Southport Theatre and Convention Centre, which closed in 2020, and is set to be demolished. The Marine Lakes Event Centre will comprise a 1,200-capacity theatre, alongside a conference centre with seating for 2,400 people.  

Originally it was the Cumberland Hotel in central London before changing its name and image to become the Hard Rock Hotel four years ago. Now it is rebranding and is due to relaunch as The Cumberland at the end of May. The Cumberland is a 1,000-bedroom hotel with meeting and events space and is located opposite Marble Arch in central London.

Previously known as the Park Inn by Radisson York City Centre, the hotel has just completed a multi-million pound transformation and has now rebranded as Radisson Hotel York. The eight storey hotel sits on the banks of the River Ouse in North Street with 200 bedrooms and events space for up to 400 delegates.

Details

Published: 25 May 2023

Our round up of the week’s news is a day early this week in view of the Bank Holiday:

Starting in London: 1 Hotels, the nature-inspired luxury lifestyle hotel is opening its first European property in London's Mayfair on July 13. 1 Hotel Mayfair will be a nine-storey sustainable hotel overlooking Green Park in the heart of London. It will feature 181 bedrooms and suites, a Michelin-starred restaurant, a fitness and wellness suite plus a range of meeting and events suites. The hotel features two new complete floors on the roof of the building housing 35 suites with floor-to-ceiling windows and expansive outdoor spaces, overlooking Green Park. 1 Hotel Mayfair is operated by SH Hotels and Resorts, a subsidiary of Starwood.

A new skyline meetings floor has just opened on the 12th floor of Hyatt Regency and Hyatt House London Stratford. Facilities include seven meeting rooms totalling 400 sq-mts plus an open-air terrace. All meeting spaces are equipped with “state-of-the-art” technology including LCD screens and video conferencing facilities. Hyatt House London Stratford is located next to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, with good access to London City Airport and St Pancras International station.

Staying in London  Stratford, European aparthotel operator Staycity is planning a 240-apartment Staycity Aparthotel expected to open in the second half of 2026.

Hotel Saint is a new hotel which has just opened in London on the former site of Dorsett City London. The 14-floor hotel has 267 bedrooms and suites, an all-day dining restaurant and a rooftop bar plus four flexible meeting and events suites. It is located in Aldgate High Street in the heart of London’s Square Mile.

It is still a long way off, but a new aparthotel is planned in central Manchester at 12-16 Piccadilly - the Grade II-listed former Union Bank building and adjacent land. It is anticipated that a planning application will be submitted to Manchester City Council in summer 2023. We will monitor developments.

Plans for a new 20-storey, 154-bedroom Motto by Hilton in Manchester are set to be approved. The new hotel would be located at the corner of Laystall Street and Great Ancoats Street in central Manchester and close to the Northern Quarter, Ancoats Urban Village and New Islington. The plans await final approval by the Planning Committee next week.

The Mere is currently an 81 bedroom hotel on the outskirts of Knutsford in Cheshire with an 18-hole championship golf course, wellness facilities and a range of meeting, events and private dining options. After a period of restoration and expansion, it will reopen as The Fairmont Cheshire The Mere in 2024 with 120 bedrooms including 27 suites, still retaining its golf course and expanding its wellness and culinary offerings. It will be Accor's fifth Fairmont hotel in the UK and Ireland.

Plans have been submitted to convert a former office unit in central Liverpool’s Renshaw Street into a 24 bedroom hotel. We will monitor its progress through the system.

Margate House is a new independently owned nine-bedroom ‘guest house by the sea’ opening in Margate in July, with plans to open a ‘pop-up’ basement restaurant later in 2023.

The Tempus at Charlton Hall Estate has just opened on a 150-acre private countryside estate in Northumberland. The Tempus is an Alice in Wonderland inspired hotel and it features 15 bedrooms plus a ground floor bar, restaurant and orangery. Facilities are available on site for both small and large business meetings. Location-wise it is just off the A1 between Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Roomzzz has just opened its first property in Scotland - Roomzzz Edinburgh has 74 serviced and fully equipped apartments. It is located in the centre of Edinburgh with views across Edinburgh Castle, Calton Hill and Arthur’s Seat. 

Finally, if you are searching for a venue for a summer event in London you could consider The Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden – now available for hire for the first time. It is located above the Queen Elizabeth Hall alongside the Thames and next to Waterloo Station. It has a capacity for 150 to 300 guests for an event.

 

We trust you will enjoy a relaxing, stress-free Bank Holiday break. We will be back next week.

Details

Published: 12 May 2023

Some of the hotel and meeting venue stories you may have missed this week with more regal news stories taking centre stage. They include:

Hampton by Hilton has just opened its first site in the City of London. Hampton by Hilton London City is located in Osborn Street. It has 278 bedrooms furnished with HDTV, complimentary Wi-Fi, Chromecast plus tea and coffee making facilities. There is a communal lounge, a fully equipped fitness centre and a breakfast restaurant. Hampton by Hilton London City is a ‘stone’s throw’ from some of London’s most famous landmarks including the Tower of London, The O2, St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge. 

The Burgenstock Collection, a small group of hotels in Switzerland, has just added The Adria in London to its collection. The Adria is a 19^th century townhouse hotel in South Kensington. It features 24 contemporary styled luxury rooms and suites.

The Hilton Brighton Metropole hotel will be rebranding as the DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole following completion of a £26million refurbishment which includes all 321 bedrooms, restaurants, bars and the hotel’s 24 meeting and events spaces. The rebranding is expected in mid-May.

School Lane Hotel is a new hotel which opened this week in the centre of Liverpool - just in time for the Eurovision Song Contest. It is located in the Russell Building in School Lane in the city centre and will be operated by Liverpool’s Hope Street Hotel. School Lane Hotel has 55 fully equipped bedrooms and a bar.

Staying in Liverpool, 30 James Street Hotel in the city centre has been purchased out of adminstration by RIMC Hotels & Resorts a German hotel group. 30 James Street Hotel, known as the 'home of the Titanic', was previously the headquarters of the White Star Shipping Line. The Grade II-listed hotel has 63 bedrooms, a seventh floor restaurant and bar, the White Star Grand Hall seating up to 150 delegates, a spa plus an outdoor terrace overlooking the River Mersey and the Liverpool Waterfront.

Radisson Hotels Group have announced plans to open a prizeotel in Dublin. prizeotel Dublin will be located in James Street in the historic Liberties area of Dublin, just outside the medieval walled city. It will feature 145 bedrooms, a restaurant and bar plus meeting and events space. Expect an early 2025 opening.

The Ebrington Hotel & Spa is a new hotel opening in Derry, Northern Ireland at the end of June. The Ebrington Hotel & Spa which overlooks The River Foyle, will open initially with 91 bedrooms and plans to increase the number to 152.  The hotel, which overlooks The River Foyle will also feature a bar, restaurant, conference facilities and a spa.

Roomzzz Aparthotels are about to launch their first property in Scotland this May.  Edinburgh Roomzzz Aparthotel will have 74 fully serviced apartments equipped with all the usual amenities including a 24-hour reception, free wi-fi and a fully equipped kitchen operating a ‘grab and go’ breakfast. Roomzzz Edinburgh Aparthotel is located in Leith Street in the city’s St James Quarter, a short walk from Edinburgh Waverley Station.

Accor is adding two hotels to its Mercure Hotels collection in the UK – in Northampton and Thurrock Mercure Northampton is an existing 146-bedroom hotel with 12 meeting rooms. Mercure Stifford Hall in Thurrock, Essex has 97 bedrooms plus seven meeting rooms. Both hotel have a restaurant and bar. The two hotels are set to open later this year following the Mercure rebranding.

The Eastside Rooms, a major conference and events venue in central Birmingham, is upping its profile. It has just announced its membership of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), the global community and knowledge hub for the international association meetings industry. The Eastside Rooms offers 23 fully flexible and versatile events spaces, including a 1,200 capacity pillar-free conference room.

Finally, we report on an interesting and unusual venue - The Hub on Verulam is a new venue recently opened in St Albans. It is difficult to put the venue ‘in a box’. It has a cinema and restaurant serving all-day food and shows live sport and music. It also has two screening rooms seating 10-32 theatre style with a full range of AV/tech facilities. Exclusive hire of the venue is also available for up to 180 delegates. It is located on Verulam Road in the centre of St Albans.

Details

Published: 14 April 2023

Welcome back after the Easter break.

The Parr’s Bank is a new boutique hotel due to open in Warrington in May. The Parrs Bank building first opened in 1877 as the original home of Parr’s Banking Co. It is now a Grade-II listed. building with its original features retained and refurbished and is about to reopen as The Parr’s Bank, a 15 bedroom boutique hotel with a restaurant, bar, coffee lounge and events space. It is located in Winwick Street in the centre of Warrington.

Located in the heart of the Staffordshire countryside, Weston Hall is a Grade II-listed manor house dating from the sixteenth century and surrounded by 20 acres of countryside. The Hall retains many of its original Elizabethan features including open stone fireplaces and oak beams. Weston Hall has eight bedrooms and six well equipped meeting and events suites the largest seating up to 200 delegates theatre style. Weston Hall is located five miles from the M6 at junction 14.

The Mercure Paignton Hotel is a new four-star hotel which has just opened on the Devon resort’s seafront. Mercure Paignton Hotel has 161 bedrooms, a restaurant plus a two-tier Mediterranean-style terrace with an outside bar. There are two meeting rooms with the largest seating up to 36 delegates. The Mercure Paignton Hotel has its own car park and is around one mile from Paignton Station.

The newly refurbished Aysgarth Falls Hotel & Palmers Restaurant has just reopened near Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales. It follows a three-month-long extensive renovation. The new look hotel has a restaurant and bar plus a private dining room for up to fourteen guests as well as eleven bedrooms with flatscreen TVs and complimentary wi-fi. The hotel has good access to York, Leeds and Newcastle.

There are strong rumours that the boutique hotel chain, The Pig, is about to open shortly a further property in Tunbridge Wells. The site of the new hotel building is currently closed for a total refurbishment but when it does open it will include similar features to those in the group’s other eight sites across the New Forest, Southampton, Bath, Studland in Dorset, Combe in Devon, Canterbury, Padstow and the South Downs. We will keep checking for opening dates and more details.

Plans to build a new hotel in central Portsmouth’s former postal sorting office have been approved. The building, a prominent landmark tower, is set to become a 200 bedroom hotel alongside a 19-storey flats development. No further details currently but we will keep watch.

The Midland Hotel in Bradford has just been sold to Britannia Hotels bringing their group portfolio to 64 hotels across the UK.

Carden Park Hotel in Cheshire has just opened its newly refurbished bar and reception following a £750,000 investment. The new Morgan’s bar and walnut-crafted reception area have both.

Finally – not happening. Plans to build a 98 bedroom, 4-star hotel and spa on a brown-field site at Forest Hill Golf Club on the edge of the National Forest in Leicestershire have been turned down.

We are taking a short break for ten days and then we will be back with the latest update of hotel and venue developments.