Welcome to our latest hotel and venue news update. We start with news from the main hotel groups before moving on to individual hotel updates.
Group news:
IHG Hotels: Hotel Indigo Leeds is set to open in the city centre in early July. Located on Lower Briggate, it will include 107 bedrooms, a Mediterranean-styled restaurant - The Banksia, plus two meeting and events suites.
IHG Hotels are planning to open the new Hotel Indigo Torquay with 153 bedrooms, two restaurants and a fitness centre in the second half of 2025. It will be the 26th Hotel Indigo in IHG's UK & Ireland portfolio.
IHG is also set to open Hotel Indigo Gloucester – The Forum, in the town centre later this year. It will have 129 bedrooms, two restaurants plus two meeting and events suites on the fifth floor.
Hilton Hotels: Construction has just started on the new 154 bedrooms MOTTO by Hilton Manchester Piccadilly – in central Manchester. We will monitor its progress.
Thistle Hotels: The Tower Hotel by Thistle in central London is planning a Spring 2026 reopening of its main Tower Suite following a major refurbishment. The Suite, overlooking Tower Bridge and the London skyline, is one of 24 flexible events spaces at the hotel, together with 801 bedrooms and suites, restaurants and bars plus a gym.
Marriott Hotels International: is now the largest hotel company in the world by the number of available rooms. It has 36 brands with 9,361 properties containing 1,706,331 rooms in 144 countries and territories. The group has just acquired the lifestyle brand CitizenM – with four hotels in London plus one in Glasow among a total of 36 hotels in America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Radisson Hotels: have opened Radisson Hotel Manchester City Centre - its first Radisson-branded hotel in the city centre and its first Verified Net Zero hotel in the UK. It has a restaurant and bar, a range of seven meeting and events suites and leisure facilities including an indoor swimming pool. It is located close to the AO Arena and Manchester Victoria station.
Adagio: The Adagio Original London City East has just opened. It is the ninth Adagio in the UK and the fourth in London. It’s located in Whitechapel Road and has 132 studios and apartments.
Zedwell Group: is planning to open a second hotel in a former office block in the City of London - Zedwell Tower Bridge. It will have 200 windowless sleep cocoons at budget prices and it will join the group’s other London Hotels in: Piccadilly Circus, Greenwich, Tottenham Court Road and Knightsbridge. No planned opening dates have been published.
Zetter Group: are planning to open their third London hotel -Zetter Bloomsbury with 68 bedrooms – in January 2026. The hotel was formerly known as the Grange White Hall and Grange Blooms hotel.
Travelodge: have announced plans to develop a new 131 bedroom hotel in Watford; its second hotel in the town. It will form part of ‘Watford Riverwell’, a £500 million regeneration scheme in the town. The hotel will feature ‘next-generation rooms’ a new restaurant concept, 85 Bar Café and 78 dedicated parking spaces.
Other Hotel and Venue news:
Leonardo Royal Hotel London St Paul’s has just launched The Hub - a self-contained ground floor collection of seven meeting rooms for small meetings, training and private dining. All spaces have natural daylight, a contemporary décor, modern AV technology, high-speed Wi-Fi and air conditioning. There is also a separate kitchen and refreshment area.
Art'otel London Hoxton has opened a new events space - Panorama - on its 24th floor. It includes 12 spaces, with views across London, accommodating up to 350 delegates for meetings, product launches and private dinners.
The New Forest Spa and Wellness Centre has just opened at Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, Hampshire. It includes a 15-person Finnish sauna, a steam room and an ice room.
‘Crafted’ is a new ‘life-friendly’ hotel brand set debut later this year. The first property will be Crafted at Powdermills in Battle, East Sussex which will be taking over the Grade II-listed PowderMills hotel. Crafted at Powdermills will have 55 bedrooms and suites, a restaurant, a pub and cocktail bar plus a seven-acre lake alongside for water-based sports and activities.
Ashridge House in Hertfordshire, has completed a project to upgrade all 189 bedrooms. 94 bedrooms have been completely renovated, with the others receiving a new decor, carpeting and soft furnishings.
The Belfry Hotel & Resort in Sutton Coldfield is planning to open ‘The Club’ in September – a new ‘state-of-the-art’ fitness centre for both members and hotel guests. It will feature: A vast gym with over 50 pieces of the latest technogym equipment; a dedicated pilates studio with reformer pilates machines, a large-capacity spin studio with over 30 bikes, two pools, including a dedicated 25-metre lap pool and a large family friendly swimming pool – all in addition to their world-renowned golf facilities.
Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa, in Windermere, Cumbria has installed a range of solar panels across five of its buildings. They are expected to generate more than 130,000 kWh of electricity annually with the project expected to have paid for itself within around six years.
Finally, sadly just one Birmingham hotel made it on to the recently published Sunday Times ‘Best Places to Stay in the UK’. It is Baloci, an Indo-Persian boutique hotel in a Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse in Edgbaston - with just six bedrooms and a restaurant, it is ‘Recommended’ in the Michelin Guide.