Industry News, February 2011

St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London is to open in March with 245 rooms. The original Midland Grand Hotel, designed by eminent Victorian Sir George Gilbert Scott, was opened in 1873 and a celebration is planned on May 5 to mark its 138th anniversary. It is a monument to the dramatic High Victorian Gothic style of architecture and was only saved from demolition in the 1960s by Sir John Betjeman. The main features of the design have been preserved during its £150m transformation into a hotel with modern facilities.

 
Virgin Trains is launching a new range of bespoke chartered services for live events and corporate meetings including branding, themes, in-carriage entertainment and fine dining

 
No. 11 Cavendish Square is a short walk from Oxford Circus. It has just completed a refurbishment of its conservatory area and courtyard garden, with new exotic plants and brass sculptures. Capacity is 100 seated of 200 for a standing reception

 
London’s Glaziers Hall has been selected to become the House of Switzerland during the 2012 Olympic Games – the interior and exterior of the property will be transformed with Swiss colours

 
A new farm and eco events centre has opened in Ardeley, Hertfordshire. Church Farm can host a range of events for up to 100 delegates including meetings, conferences and teambuilding.

 
Guoman Charing Cross Hotel will complete a £2.5m refurbishment of its Buckingham Wing next month, it will be an exclusive area within the deluxe hotel

 
The Lensbury Conference Centre has recently upgraded 24 of its conference rooms equipping them with 8 hour delegate chairs and wall mounted LCD TV’s

 
The new academic building at Goldsmiths, University of London, includes lecture theatres for 120 and 250, plus another nine event spaces

 
The University of Glamorgan has started a £20m scheme to provide an additional 476 en suite bedrooms plus shared kitchen facilities for use by conference delegates in a wooded environment at the heart of the Pontypridd campus

 
Conference and meeting venues across London were prepared to slash their  usual fees for last minute events towards the end of 2010 by up to two thirds in a bid to secure bookings

Venuemasters has signed up two new members, The University of Limerick and The University of Bath

According to analysis by PwC, there could be a 27% increase in luxury rooms in London by 2012 with around 2,400 rooms in 18 hotels reported under construction or planned in London. In the quest for higher profits, it’s also interesting to note that a higher suite to room ratio is emerging in some properties. The Four Seasons on Park Lane has recently re-opened with fewer bedrooms and more suites – with a suite to room ratio of around 31% (around 192 bedrooms including 45 suites).

Richmond Creative Event Catering has re-launched Blakemore House in Little Wymondley in Hertfordshire as a corporate and private events venue.  After taking over the property in mid 2010, Richmond has co-ordinated its refurbishment and is now responsible for managing the venue hire, marketing, and catering operations which adds to their portfolio of exclusive venues in and around London. Built in 1911, Blakemore House has recently been refurbished and is now a beautiful venue for conferences, meetings, wedding receptions and private entertaining. The house has six separate rooms each named after different herbs, and accommodates up to 600 guests throughout the venue. Four of these rooms open out onto the picturesque gardens where there is also space for a marquee for up to 500 guests.

The Macdonald Inchyra Hotel & Spa is set to open the doors to its newly refurbished spa, following a £2.3million investment in the hotel’s leisure facilities. The new spa is part of an overarching £4million redevelopment, further cementing its position as one of central Scotland’s premier 4 star hotels. A fully equipped techno gym fitness suite, eight luxurious treatment rooms, a calming relaxation room and a new Spa café lounge will open to hotel guests and members next month, followed by a 20 metre pool, aroma steam room, rock sauna, ice fountain and experience massage shower in May. The new spa will not only offer a wide range of treatments using renowned spa brands Carita and Décleor, but a Spa Butler has also been appointed to ensure that guests have an unforgettable spa experience at Inchyra.

Liverpool could soon be launching itself into the luxury hotel market if an ambitious scheme to convert a historic city centre building is a success. Developers Castlewood Property Management have put in an application to create a 138-bed five-star hotel on the site of the former Martins Bank building in Water Street. The Grade II*-listed building has not been fully occupied since Barclays bank moved out a few years ago. The £40m development will include a 12,500 sq ft “urban spa” as well as two restaurants – including one for fine dining – and conference and banqueting facilities. The hotel will be operated by an as yet un-named international brand five-star hotel chain, although speculation that it could be the Waldorf Astoria have been discounted.

The London Borough of Islington has granted consent for Frogmore to develop a 72,000 sq ft, 80-bedroom, boutique hotel in EC3, designed by Allies and Morrison. The hotel will be occupied and run by London based restaurant and hotel specialist D&D London. South Place Hotel will contain 80 luxury bedrooms and suites, private dining and conference facilities, restaurants and bars. These will include a brasserie and bar on the ground floor and a 7th floor rooftop restaurant with an outdoor terrace, overlooking the City skyline. Located at 3 & 4 South Place, near Liverpool Street station, the consented plan absorbs the site’s irregular geometries and creates a very simple, U shaped building that completes the city block.

One Drummond Gate is the latest addition to etc.venues, located near to Pimlico and Victoria stations at the junction of Drummond Gate and Vauxhall Bridge Road, this dedicated conference meeting and event space will open in May 2011. This venue will offer a large, flexible conference suite holding 250 theatre style or 100 cabaret style and nine further rooms ideal for a range of events.  The venue will also have a private, tranquil garden area with plenty of space for a range of events from networking to drinks receptions, lunches, barbeques or teambuilding.

Users of Wyboston Lakes, Waterfront Conference Centre are now benefiting from the recent completion of more than £300,000 worth of improvements. In launching the enhanced facilities, Wyboston Lakes has decided to rename the Centre to encompass its established conference centre activity and its increasingly popular hotel services. The conference, meeting and training facilities at the centre will from now formally be called ‘The Waterfront Conference Suites at Wyboston Lakes Hotel’, which will be abbreviated for conference customers to ‘The Waterfront Conference Suites’. The Suites offer a total of 28 air-conditioned meeting and syndicate rooms with the largest room having a capacity for up to 130 delegates seated theatre style, with integrated audio-visual equipment, onsite technical support and site-wide internet access. The two thrusts of the latest investment have been to create a more compact and convenient experience for delegates using its conference suites; and to create a state-of-the-art reception area for all guests, which is both more welcoming and efficient.

More than 30 UK hotels have entered administration since the start of the year, with both regional and city centre properties across the country feeling the effects of the economic climate. The 297-room Radisson Blu Hotel in Liverpool and the 279-room Manchester Hilton Deansgate, both owned by Beetham Hotels, collapsed last week due to a dispute with the bank and administrators KPMG have been appointed in the hope of selling the properties as a going concern. The hotels, which employ 420 staff, remain open. In central London Crowne Hotels Group Limited, which has four budget hotels including Mabledon Court Hotel in Bloomsbury, has appointed administrators Begbies Traynor. Zolfo Cooper has been appointed as administrator of Cube Hotels Limited, which owns the Best Western Salford Hall Hotel in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Best Western West Grange Hotel near Newbury and Best Western Leicestershire North Hotel & Conference Centre in Melton Mowbray. Earlier this month Butterfly Hotels Limited, which has 12 hotels including six Ramada flag properties, three Holiday Inn Expresses and two Best Westerns, went into administration but was rescued by Akkeron Hotels Group.

Independent hotels which have netered administration since Christmas include the 103-bedroom Olde Barn Hotel and Conference Centre in Grantham, Lincolnshire, which can hold meetings for up to 300 delegates, and luxury boutique property Dorset Square Hotel in London’s West End.

International

Hilton has opened its third hotel in Krakow in Poland. The Garden Inn is set on the banks of the Vistula river, just a short walk from the old town centre and offers views over Wawel Castle. The property has 154 guest rooms and 300 sqm of meeting space which can be divided into four separate rooms.

Hyatt Regency has opened in the heart of the trendy Media Harbour Area in Dusseldorf. The 303 room hotel is located in one of two newly built 19 storey towers. It offers more than 850 sqm of event space, including a 445 sqm divisable ballroom. The hotel also has a five room spa.

Wyndham Hotel Group has announced the opening of Tryp Berlin, this is to be managed by Sol Melia. Located in the heart of Berlins’s trendy Mitte district and have 229 bedrooms and 138 sqm of meeting and event space that can accommodate 130 people. This four star hotel plans to expand its meeting space this summer to accommodate up to 250 people. 

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts have launched its first property in Europe, the Shangri-La Hotel Paris. The hotel has four event spaces and can host up to 350 guests and 81 rooms including 27 suites.

A 12,000 sqm extension at Davos Congress Centre in Switzerland means the resort can now host conferences for up to 5.000 delegates. The facilities will be further improved later in the year when Hilton opens its new hotel directly opposite the Congress Centre.