We are back with our brief hotel, meeting and events news round up following our summer break.
Starting in London: The BoTree Hotel in Marylebone, central London opens on 15 September 2023 with 199 bedrooms, including 30 luxury suites, multiple dining options, a fitness centre and meeting rooms including a private cinema for 35 guests.
Ruby Hotels is planning to launch its third London property – Ruby Stella – in December. It is close to Farringdon station in Clerkenwell. It will have 154 bedrooms and suites. It will join Ruby Lucy on London’s Southbank and Ruby Zoe in Notting Hill.
The 5-star Peninsula London has just opened on Grosvenor Place in Belgravia, overlooking Hyde Park Corner and Wellington Arch. It has 190 bedrooms and suites, 25 luxury residences, a selection of restaurants plus six meeting and banqueting suites.
Friday 29th September will see the grand opening of Raffles London at the OWO – the Old War Office building in the heart of Whitehall. It will be the first Raffles-branded hotel to open in the UK and will include 120 bedrooms and suites, 85 residences, a grand ballroom and spa plus extensive events space.
Looking ahead Zetter Hotels is set to launch its third hotel in London in early 2025. Zetter Bloomsbury will be located next to the British Museum. It will join Zetter Marylebone and Zetter Clerkenwell in the group. It will have 72 bedrooms and suites, a bar, private dining room, a breakfast venue and a private garden.
Forty-Seven is Manchester’s latest boutique hotel to open. It is located at Forty-Seven Peter Street, a Grade-II listed former shipping warehouse dating from 1868. Forty-Seven is the second hotel from Kro Hospitality, the group behind Velvet Hotel, Bar and Brasserie also in Manchester. Forty-Seven has 32 bedrooms, including 13 suites plus The Peterman cocktail bar and Asha’s Indian restaurant.
Staying in Manchester, plans are afoot to open a luxury hotel on the site where the Football League was founded in Manchester in 1888. A 187-bedroom Zedwell Hotel has been earmarked for the upper floors of the Royal Buildings on the corner of Market Street and Mosely Street in Manchester city centre. We will monitor developments.
Remaining in Manchester and with football, plans to build a CR7 Hotel in Manchester have resurfaced. Plans for the CR7 Hotel, backed by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, were approved back in December 2020 - for an 11-storey, 151-bedroom hotel in the city centre with an opening planned for this year. Development had stalled but has now resumed. If it reaches its goal, it will be located on the corner of Piccadilly and Newton Street. The CR7 brand operates five hotels in Lisbon, New York, Marrakech, Madeira, and Madrid with another planned in Paris.
Pennyhill Park hotel in Surrey is planning to install five 22kW chargers and ten charging bays for electric car users.
Plans have been submitted for a new hotel at Leeds Kirkgate Market. If approved, work could start next year. The hotel would occupy the top five floors of a new six-storey building with 140 bedrooms plus a restaurant and bar.
Plans have also been submitted for a new 161-bedroom, five-storey hotel on Grimsby Docks. The new hotel would be housed in a regeneration of The Ice Factory close to the entrance to the Docks. Further details to follow in due course.
W Edinburgh hotel is on target to open this November. It will be the first of Marriott’s W-branded hotel to open in Scotland. It will be located in the city’s St James Quarter and will include 244 bedrooms and suites, a restaurant and bar, a gym and spa and extensive events space.
Wennington Hall, a Grade II-listed former Lancashire school, is set to be converted into a luxury hotel, retreat, spa and events venue. Wennington Hall, now part of Bowland Inns & Hotels, is located on the outskirts of the Lune Valley village of Wennington. The proposed hotel will have around 160 bedrooms. It is a 20 minute drive from the M6 motorway in Lancashire. We will monitor its progress.
Looking for a venue with a difference in London? Landing Forty Two is situated on the 42nd floor of ‘The Cheesegrater’. At 500ft above street level it is London’s highest dedicated events space. Landing Forty Two offers 5,000 sq ft of flexible space for conferences, product launches, receptions and dinners for up to 300 delegates – all accessed by ‘the fastest scenic lift in Europe’.
Allow us to introduce The Upper House Hotel, Stoke on Trent. Set in 10 acres of woodlands and landscaped gardens, the hotel has 24 individually decorated en-suite bedrooms, a restaurant and bar plus three meeting and events suites – the largest seating 120 delegates. It is situated ten minutes from junction 15 of the M6 with easy access to the A50 and Stoke train stations.
And finally – great news for our home city. Birmingham has been named ‘Event Destination of the Year’ at the EN (Exhibition News) Supplier Awards. The city fought off stiff competition from cities in Spain, Greece, Japan, Dubai and Miami to win the top prize at the awards ceremony.