CHOICE LOCATIONS

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: 07 April 2023

Tylney Hall Hotel & Gardens in Hampshire has just opened its new Orangery Suites - four large suites spread across two floors. They are part of a rolling refurbishment programme at the hotel.

The Bracken Hide is a new ‘wilderness hotel’ opening on the Isle of Skye on 7^th April. With 27 en-suite cabins plus a restaurant, whisky bar, lounge plus screening and games rooms. The hotel is designed to bridge the gap between a traditional luxury hotel and wilderness-style accommodation.

The Kings Head, an historic Shepherd Neame former coaching inn in Wye, near Ashford, Kent which dates from the late 1700s has just reopened as a 7 bedroom boutique hotel, with a restaurant and bar.

Heathcote & Co have just taken over as the new catering partner at the AJ Bell Stadium, the Rugby League stadium situated alongside the Trafford Centre in Manchester. It boasts a range of meeting and events facilities with the largest space seating up to 1150 delegates theatre style.

Apex City Quay Hotel & Spa  in Dundee is celebrating its 20th birthday with a year-long partnership with the world's longest running comic icon and fellow Dundee creation, The Beano. They have created a Beano inspired room where you'll find added extras and themed textiles for a ‘truly mischievous adventure’.

Room2 Southampton has won £10k from Drax Electric Vehicles to install electric vehicle chargers at the hotel. As well as the supply and installation of the charging station, the prize also includes three years of free-of-charge software, service and maintenance.

The Mount Hotel in Wolverhampton has just acquired Perton Park Golf Club adding corporate team building and golf days to its events package. Perton Park Golf Club includes an 18-hole golf course plus a gym and outdoor adventure activities, such as the Dinosaur Golf Course. The Mount Hotel and Perton Park Golf Club are located a couple of miles from each other.

Plans for the future include:

Plans have been submitted to Leeds City Council to convert a Grade II-listed listed former railway engineering building into an events venue for conferences, live music and local meetings. The building is the Old Engine Works on Jack Lane in Hunslet. It dates from the mid-1800s. We will monitor progress.

Ruby Hotels have just submitted a planning application to open a new hotel in Edinburgh’s Princes Street. If all goes to plan Ruby Edinburgh will open in 2026 with around 300 bedrooms over seven storeys plus a 24/7 bar and a rooftop terrace with views of both Edinburgh Castle and Edinburgh Old Town. The hotel will be around a ten-minute walk from Edinburgh Waverley station.

Birmingham City Council is set to consider plans submitted by the Irish Centre to build a hotel alongside its existing clubhouse in the city. The Irish Centre is planning a three-storey extension with 59 bedrooms plus the creation of a boxing gym. Sally has her boxing gloves at the ready in anticipation.

Looking to raise its profile this week is:

This week’s venue looking to raise its profile is the home of the oldest professional football club in Britain. Meadow Lane is home of Notts County FC. It is also the home to a range of conference and events facilities for up to 500 guests with both large and intimate conference spaces plus rooms with a pitch view - all fully equipped with the latest technology. On-site parking and a full catering package are also part of the offering. Meadow Lane is close to the centre of Nottingham and even closer to the River Trent.

We wiah you have a happy and peaceful Easter break.

Details

Published: 30 March 2023

New venues opened include:

An old city pub, Hort’s, on Broad Street in the centre of Bristol has just reopened as Hort’s Townhouse following an eight-month-long refurbishment. The 18th century, Grade II-listed building now features 19 individually designed bedrooms located on the previously unused upper floors of the pub.

Virgin Hotels Edinburgh officially opened last Friday (24^th March) in Victoria Street. The hotel houses 222 Chambers and Grand Chamber suites with the Commons Club restaurant and Eve the all-day dining space plus the Greyfriars Hall housing a range of conference and events facilities.

Latest refurbishments include:

The Europa Hotel in Belfast, has completed a £10 million renovation programme of its guest bedrooms including 100 Superior bedrooms, 80 Classic bedrooms and five Suites.

On the other hand, London Hilton on Park Lane has just begun a multi-million-pound refurbishment programme - the first major refurbishment since the hotel opened in the 1960’s. It will include all bedrooms, a new lobby and a renovated ground floor restaurant. It is all due for completion by September.

New hotels and venues planned include:

Canadian-based Sandman Hotel Group is set to open its fourth UK hotel this spring – in Glasgow.  Sandman Signature Glasgow Hotel will take over the Pegasus House building on West George Street in the city. It will have 179 bedrooms across ten floors plus a restaurant and bar, meeting and events facilities and a gym.

Marriott is to open a new hotel in Manchester city centre this May. Residence Inn by Marriott Manchester will have 155 bedrooms over 12 floors. The property, formerly The Northern Quarters Service Apartments Manchester, is located in Laystall Street and has undergone a total refurbishment. All rooms will include a kitchen, featuring a microwave, single oven, a two-ring hob, refrigerator and dishwasher.

Sircle Collection, a new boutique/lifestyle group, is planning to open its first hotel in London this autumn. Sircle London will open on Devonshire Square with 81 bedrooms, a restaurant and bar, yoga studio and gym plus an outdoor botanical courtyard. We will monitor its progress.

Plans to create a brand-new state-of-the-art events centre - Marine Lake Events Centre - on the site of the former Southport Theatre in the resort are progressing. A fully flexible cultural space is planned which will host conferences and exhibitions, as well as cultural events and musical theatre. Building contractors have been lined up for this £73million project with final planning approval expected this spring.

Travelodge is currently searching for 300 hotel sites across the UK, as part of an ambitious expansion programme. The group is in contact with 220 local authorities across Britain proposing a joint development partnership.

Plans have been published to convert the Grade II-listed Murdoch Chambers and Pitman Building on Corporation Street in the centre of Birmingham into a four-star hotel. The building started life in the late 1800s as a vegetarian restaurant and hotel. Plans would see the existing Grade II-listed façade restored with a new 11-storey extension at the rear of the building. If all goes to plan work is anticipated to start mid-2023, with completion in 2025. 

We finish this week’s roundup with two venues which have caught our attention especially in view of the ‘rumoured’ approach of springtime. They are two rooftop meeting spaces at the Southbank Centre in central London. St Paul’s Roof Pavilion spans the Royal Festival Hall and looks east over the Hayward Gallery as the River Thames flows under Waterloo Bridge towards St Paul's and the Shard. It has a. capacity for up to 150 delegates. Weston Roof Pavilion overlooks the London Eye and Houses of Parliament with capacity for up to 220 delegates. Both are interesting and unusual venues for a meeting, conference or team away-day.

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.

Details

Published: 07 April 2023

Tylney Hall Hotel & Gardens in Hampshire has just opened its new Orangery Suites - four large suites spread across two floors. They are part of a rolling refurbishment programme at the hotel.

The Bracken Hide is a new ‘wilderness hotel’ opening on the Isle of Skye on 7^th April. With 27 en-suite cabins plus a restaurant, whisky bar, lounge plus screening and games rooms. The hotel is designed to bridge the gap between a traditional luxury hotel and wilderness-style accommodation.

The Kings Head, an historic Shepherd Neame former coaching inn in Wye, near Ashford, Kent which dates from the late 1700s has just reopened as a 7 bedroom boutique hotel, with a restaurant and bar.

Heathcote & Co have just taken over as the new catering partner at the AJ Bell Stadium, the Rugby League stadium situated alongside the Trafford Centre in Manchester. It boasts a range of meeting and events facilities with the largest space seating up to 1150 delegates theatre style.

Apex City Quay Hotel & Spa  in Dundee is celebrating its 20th birthday with a year-long partnership with the world's longest running comic icon and fellow Dundee creation, The Beano. They have created a Beano inspired room where you'll find added extras and themed textiles for a ‘truly mischievous adventure’.

Room2 Southampton has won £10k from Drax Electric Vehicles to install electric vehicle chargers at the hotel. As well as the supply and installation of the charging station, the prize also includes three years of free-of-charge software, service and maintenance.

The Mount Hotel in Wolverhampton has just acquired Perton Park Golf Club adding corporate team building and golf days to its events package. Perton Park Golf Club includes an 18-hole golf course plus a gym and outdoor adventure activities, such as the Dinosaur Golf Course. The Mount Hotel and Perton Park Golf Club are located a couple of miles from each other.

Plans for the future include:

Plans have been submitted to Leeds City Council to convert a Grade II-listed listed former railway engineering building into an events venue for conferences, live music and local meetings. The building is the Old Engine Works on Jack Lane in Hunslet. It dates from the mid-1800s. We will monitor progress.

Ruby Hotels have just submitted a planning application to open a new hotel in Edinburgh’s Princes Street. If all goes to plan Ruby Edinburgh will open in 2026 with around 300 bedrooms over seven storeys plus a 24/7 bar and a rooftop terrace with views of both Edinburgh Castle and Edinburgh Old Town. The hotel will be around a ten-minute walk from Edinburgh Waverley station.

Birmingham City Council is set to consider plans submitted by the Irish Centre to build a hotel alongside its existing clubhouse in the city. The Irish Centre is planning a three-storey extension with 59 bedrooms plus the creation of a boxing gym. Sally has her boxing gloves at the ready in anticipation.

Looking to raise its profile this week is:

This week’s venue looking to raise its profile is the home of the oldest professional football club in Britain. Meadow Lane is home of Notts County FC. It is also the home to a range of conference and events facilities for up to 500 guests with both large and intimate conference spaces plus rooms with a pitch view - all fully equipped with the latest technology. On-site parking and a full catering package are also part of the offering. Meadow Lane is close to the centre of Nottingham and even closer to the River Trent.

We wiah you have a happy and peaceful Easter break.

Details

Published: 24 March 2023

Some of the news items you may have missed this week include:

YOTEL is planning to launch an aparthotel concept – YOTELPAD, with the first opening, YOTELPAD London Stratford, expected to open late 2023. YOTELPAD will include a multi-functional live, work and sleep area plus a bathroom and a fully equipped kitchenette. YOTELPAD London Stratford, when it opens, will be the third London property in the YOTEL group and the seventh in the UK.

Lydiard House & Park, plus conference centre, is set to reopen this April following completion of a £2.6million makeover of its bedrooms and events spaces. Lydiard House has 31 bedrooms plus eight meeting and events suites over two floors with the largest room seating up to 100 delegates theatre style. Lydiard House and Park is located in Swindon, a short drive from the M4J16.

PPHE Hotel Group, the international hospitality real estate group, is planning to launch a new €250 million European Hospitality Real Estate Fund which will enable the group to make strategic acquisitions of hotels across Europe. The group currently operate the Radisson, Park Plaza and Art’otels in the UK.

Plans have been approved for the demolition of a low-rise building in Haymarket Yards, Edinburgh which lies close to Haymarket Station and its replacement with a new nine storey hotel with 200+ bedrooms plus a ten-storey office block alongside. Both properties will share an internal winter garden space and extensive landscaped roof terraces. Construction is expected to start in 2024. Details of its operators await publication.

Kew Green Hotels Group has partnered with PoGo to install new electric car charging hubs at the 40 hotels it owns and operates in the UK- mainly Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, voco and Courtyard by Marriott hotels. Work will start this summer with completion anticipated by the end of the year.

The Kings Arms Hotel, part of the Lake District Hotels group, has reopened following a £5000,000 refurbishment programme.  The 17th century coaching inn, located in Keswick town centre, has 13 bedrooms plus a restaurant and bar.

Fairtree and Blantyre have just acquired the seven Scottish-based hotels previously operated by Crerar Hotel Group. These include Balmoral Arms in Royal Deeside, the Oban Bay Hotel in Oban and the Loch Fyne Hotel & Spa in Argyll.

Looking to raise its profile this week is: Hawkstone Hall & Gardens. located near Shrewsbury in Shropshire. Hawkstone Hall & Gardens offers a venue with six meeting rooms with the largest seating up to 200 delegates. These include space for team building, corporate events, lectures, celebratory dinners - plus 12 suites and 24 Classic bedrooms.

The Clermont Hotel Group, who operate 17 hotels in London, have just opened The Academy, a dedicated learning and development centre for new and current employees. The Academy is based in the group’s Tower Hotel in London.

City news:

Manchester is set to introduce a tax on people visiting the city for overnight stays from this April. 74 hotels and short-stay serviced apartments in the city will charging an extra £1.00 per room per night. The tax is being levied to help develop and promote tourism in Manchester.

Finally, it’s a long way off but we wait in anticipation to see if the City of Birmingham in partnership with Aston Villa Football Club is successful in its bid to host football’s UEFA EUROs in 2028. Birmingham is currently one of seven cities on the longlist of English cities. Villa Park’s redevelopment plans will ensure that the stadium meets the essential aspects of the UEFA bid requirements.