The 76-bedroom CBeebies hotel, all themed, will feature its own entertainment area, a restaurant plus a reception area with a storybook feature using interactive AV elements.
Theming will start on arrival at the hotel entrance where guests will be greeted by the CBeebies Land plane under a brightly coloured illuminated rainbow archway. Once inside the hotel children will be greeted by some of their favourite CBeebies characters.
Bedrooms will be able to sleep up to seven people. Each room will have a play area featuring an ‘entertainment wall’.
Hotel guests can hunt for Pat's parcels in the Postman Pat room, count the jewels in the Swashbuckle room or stay in one of Mr Tumble's starry bunkbeds. Find the Ponty Pines around the In the Night Garden room and sleep in the Octopod in a themed underwater experience with the Octonauts.
All rooms include interactive games and play items. Each themed room is ‘uniquely designed to give little ones a sleepover like no other’. If the above makes little or no sense you probably have neither small children nor grandchildren.
From a business and meetings point of view, Alton Towers still offers Alton Towers Hotel and Splash Landings Hotel plus a range of Woodland Lodges.
The park has its own Conference Centre with the main State Room accommodating up to 360 delegates cabaret style, supported by eight syndicate rooms, two private bars and a private patio.
There is also a wide range of team-building activities available on the 500-acre Alton Towers estate.
Details: https://www.altontowers.com/
- Details
- Published: 25 January 2017
- Hits: 4765
The Old Bridgwater Hospital was built in 1813 and closed in 2014 with its services transferred to a new purpose-built facility in the town.
The site has previously been granted planning permission for an 80-bedroom hotel, gym, swimming pool, day nursery and three homes.
Plans include upgrading the Georgian frontage of the old hospital which would then form the entrance and hotel reception.
A proposed three-storey health club/gym and swimming pool would be located in the former outpatients building with the hotel restaurant on the ground floor of what was the former dental surgery.
The Old Bridgwater Hospital is located in Salmon Parade close to the town centre.
- Details
- Published: 16 January 2017
- Hits: 4315
One of the highlights of the New Year is the annual list published by Travelodge of unusual items left behind in their bedrooms during the year.
In Manchester, for example, a trio of prosthetic legs each with one designer shoe, were left behind. Amazingly, it must have slipped an owners mind that they had inadvertently left their Mercedes AMG car behind at the Oxford Abingdon Road Travelodge.
I can understand someone leaving their set of annual corporate accounts behind but not a necklace made from £50.00 notes!
The top ten most popular items left behind in Travelodge hotels during 2016 included:
• Chargers for mobile phones and electronic devices such as laptops
• Tablets
• Mobile phones
• Business papers / notepads / presentations
• Teddy bears
• Toiletry bags with contents
• Sat nav
• Pyjamas
• Socks and ties
• Books
Oher more unusual items included:
Coventry: Sikh ceremonial helmet and shield
Cardiff: British Blue Shorthair cat called Yoda
Canterbury: Antique stained glass window
Bradford: Necklace made from £50 notes
Huddersfield: Brass octagonal gramophone which had just been repaired to its full glory
London Covent Garden: Barristers Forensic wig & gown
Harrogate: Shih Tzu called Harold
Heathrow Terminal 5: Keys to a haveli (mansion) in Deli India
Chester Central: A large vintage cuckoo clock
Bicester: Swarovski encrusted waving cat – good luck charm
London Aldgate East: Gold portrait of Elvis Presley
Edinburgh Central: A forty year old teddy bear belonging to a CEO
Cambridge Central: Littmann stethoscope
Newcastle: 3ft Cheetah ornament
Birmingham Newhall Street: Suitcase of rupees
Portsmouth: Monkey puzzle tree
Leeds: Film footage from a documentary TV programme
Dundee Strathmore: A family of three generations of garden gnomes
London Docklands: Three piece Tom Ford suit
Liverpool Strand: Wedding cake in the design of a Disney castle
Burford, Cotswolds: A pair of 4ft pillars covered in fresh white roses
Blackpool South Shore: 4ft stick of rock
Bath: Wedding vows from the 1950s
Manchester Central: Scrapbook of Coronation Street memorabilia
Portishead: Suitcase of invoices that need to be posted out to customers
Southampton Central: Round the world cruise ticket
All items left behind in Travelodge hotels which have not been claimed within three months are donated to local charity shops
- Details
- Published: 09 January 2017
- Hits: 4276
We have listed ten new hotels planned in London - some we confidently predicted would open in 2016. We have listed ten new hotels planned in London - some we confidently predicted would open in 2016. They should all now be opening this year instead. The list is far from comprehensive but it does underline the growing popularity of London’s eastside and Docklands for hotel developers.
The new Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square opens in the New Year. It is taking reservations from 26th January 2017.
The Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square is located in the Grade II-listed former headquarters of the Port of London Authority, close to the Tower of London and a short walk from St Paul’s Cathedral.
Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square has 100 guest bedrooms including 11 signature suites plus 41 private residences. The hotel has three restaurants, including French, Asian and the Rotunda bar and lounge.
730 sq-mt of meeting and events space at Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square includes two ballrooms: the UN Ballroom, the setting for the inaugural reception of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946, now fully restored and seating up to 260 delegates theatre style, plus the circular Merchants Hall with its circumference of windows and seating up to 140 delegates theatre style.
Three smaller meeting rooms are located above the hotel’s main entrance seating from six to sixteen delegates for a boardroom meeting or private dinner.
A luxury spa with eight treatment rooms is scheduled to open mid-March 2017. Other leisure facilities include a state-of-the-art fitness centre, indoor pool and vitality pool.
Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square joins its sister properties, the 193-bedroom Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane and the 133-bedroom Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire.
Details: http://www.fourseasons.com/tentrinity/
Master sushi chef Nobu Matsuhisa is planning to open a Nobu Hotel in London's Shoreditch. It will be his first European hotel.
Nobu Hotel Shoreditch will open with 150 bedrooms at 10-50 Willow Street. Food and beverage menus will be developed by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa specifically for the hotel.
Nobu Hotel Shoreditch will also feature banqueting and meeting rooms plus a state-of-the-art fitness centre.
As with all Nobu properties, the design will reflect both the city of origin, as well as Nobu Hospitality’s signature east-meets-west philosophy. The five-storey hotel will feature a landscaped garden, staggered with terraces.
Nobu Hotel Shoreditch is scheduled to open spring 2017.
It is a short walk to Old Street tube station. Liverpool Street station is an approximate ten minute walk away.
Details: www.nobuhospitality.com
Curtain Hotel and Private Members’ Club is a new 120-bedroom hotel opening early 2017 in Shoreditch, east London.
The American-based Gansevoort Hotel Group, behind two of New York’s hippest hotels, is masterminding the £70million project.
Curtain Hotel will have nine-floors, including three underground, with 114 hotel bedrooms and six suites. Each room will have a hardwood floor, plenty of natural light and will be equipped with the latest in-room technology alongside contemporary artworks.
Curtain Hotel will have a 1,600 sq-ft rooftop pool area, a cafe and bar with views across the city plus two restaurants, one of which will be overseen by a Michelin-starred chef.
Curtain Hotel will include a ground floor lobby plus open-plan co-working space and meeting facilities. A luxury spa, nightclub, screening room, music venue and a ballroom all feature in the plans.
A private members club will be integrated within the hotel and will feature dedicated areas for members.
Curtain Hotel and Private Members’ Club will be located in Curtain Road, a short walk from Liverpool Street station.
Details: www.gansevoorthotelgroup.com
The former Midland Bank headquarters in the City of London, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, will reopen as the new 252-bedroom flagship five-star Ned Hotel in spring 2017.
Ned Hotel will be operated by Soho House and will join their portfolio of 17 members’ clubs worldwide. Non-members will be able to book accommodation.
The Ned Hotel gets its name from the architect who designed the building - Ned was Sir Edwin's nickname.
The Grade 1-listed building will be redesigned in the style and decor of a 1930s transatlantic ocean liner. The Portland stone facades will be restored and the banking hall's marble columns and walnut panelling preserved.
The banking hall will be converted into the main food and beverage space. It will include seven bars and restaurants including an American cafe, a New-York-style deli, a Parisian cafe, a Grill Room and a branch of Cecconi's.
The former offices on the upper floors will be refigured as 252 bedrooms and suites.
Ned Hotel will also feature a members-only Ned’s Club featuring a rooftop bar with landscaped terraces, a health spa and gym.
The former safe deposit vault in the basement beneath the banking hall will become the main leisure area and will include a swimming pool, gym, boxing ring, sauna, steam room and a ‘Cowshed Spa’.
Ned Hotel will be located at 27 Poultry in the City of London, within walking distance of a range of tube and DLR stations.
Dorsett City Hotel opening in London spring 2017
Dorsett Hospitality International is on target to open its second hotel in London, Dorsett City, in April 2017.
Dorsett City will open in a 13-storey landmark building formerly known as The Matrix, located next to Aldgate tube station and the 18th century St Botolph Church.
Dorsett City will include 275 bedrooms, two restaurants, a roof-top bar and 1,600 sq-ft of meetings and events space.
The group’s first UK hotel, Dorsett Shepherds Bush, opened in 2014. Future plans include a third London hotel – Dorsett Alpha Square, 231-bedroom hotel in the Isle of Dogs, East London.
Details: http://www.dorsett.com/our-london-hotels.php
Victory House, London, MGallery by Sofitel is a new 86-bedroom boutique hotel opening in Victory House, in London’s Leicester Square in March 2017.
Victory House, London, MGallery by Sofitel will be operated by Bespoke Hotel. It will consist of three one-bed suites, six signature suites,13 deluxe bedrooms 58 standard bedrooms plus a total of six accessible bedrooms – all with the latest luxury fittings and free wi-fi throughout.
The hotel will feature a ground floor bistro restaurant.
Victory House is a heritage site overlooking Leicester Square and within a stone’s throw of London’s theatreland.
Lalit London hotel opening 26th January 2017
It is the Indian-based hospitality group’s first venture in Europe.
The former school is a Grade II-listed Victorian building which has completed a £50million overhaul.
Lalit London will feature an Indian bread bar — known as the Naanery — serving only breads from the subcontinent such as roti and kulcha matched with wines.
The traditional English afternoon tea will come with an Indian twist with options such as Cutting Chai tea and samosas and kathi rolls.
The restaurant in Lalit London will be located in the vaulted former Great Hall where pupils once ate school dinners and will feature an Indian-inspired menu.
The basement spa will offer traditional Indian ayurvedic therapies including yoga.
Bedrooms described as ‘classrooms’, together with meeting rooms ‘Laboratory 1’ and ‘Laboratory 2’ reflect the building’s school heritage.
Lalit London is located on the south side of the Thames near City Hall, a five-minute walk from London Bridge station for underground and national rail services. Tower Hill Station is a 15-minute walk from the hotel with the London Bridge City Pier a three minute walk away.
Details: http://www.thelalit.com/the-lalit-london/
France-based Experimental Group operate a group of bars and restaurants across Europe and in New York including three bars in London.
Experimental Group will make its first venture into the UK hotel market in early 2017 opening the Henrietta Hotel with 18 bedrooms in the heart of Covent Garden in London.
Henrietta Hotel will be the sister hotel to the group’s Grand Pigalle in Paris.
Experimental Group is partnering with Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous to open a new destination restaurant in the Henrietta Hotel.
The new 80-cover restaurant will be situated across the ground and first floors of the hotel. The Dabbous restaurant will feature a simple and seasonal, ingredient-led menu with a French influence.
Henrietta Hotel will also feature a 60-cover basement cocktail bar plus a 60-cover private members' club.
Details: http://www.experimentalevents.com/locations/
The new Moxy London Excel Hotel opens this spring in London’s Dockland with 164 bedrooms and suites.
Moxy is the Marriott group’s less formal brand; its bid for the ‘lifetsyle with attitude’ market.
Moxy London Excel Hotel will feature a bright, open lobby with a ‘Plug and Meet’ gathering area with ergonomic seating, a large writing wall and a 56 inch television for presentation projection.
The lobby area will also include a video wall and a 24/7 food and beverage offering. Continental breakfast will be served and there will be a bar in the evening.
The stylishly designed bedrooms will all be equipped with a 42 inch flat screen HD television, a high quality sound system and complimentary wi-fi.
Leisure facilities will include a fitness room with cardiovascular equipment and free weights.
Moxy London Excel is located in Dockside Road, a short walk from Royal Albert station on the DLR and just over one kilometre from London City Airport. Chargeable car parking will be available.
Accor Hotels were planning to open a new Novotel in London’s Canary Wharf at the end of 2016. At 127 metres high, it will be the tallest
Novotel in the world. Novotel London Canary Wharf will have 313 bedrooms including 26 suites, a ‘cutting edge’ restaurant and bar concept plus nine meeting rooms and breakout areas.
Novotel London Canary Wharf will be located at 40 Marsh Street, a short walk from Canary Wharf DLR and tube station.
We await publication of an opening date.
- Details
- Published: 10 January 2017
- Hits: 5025
The Bespoke Access Awards was launched earlier this year by RIBA and Bespoke Hotels to “challenge the perception of hotel facilities set aside for disabled people are joyless, poorly-designed and over-medicalised.”
Held at the Palace of Westminster, the international competition attracted entries from around the world including Germany, Russia, Hong Kong and Canada.
Motionspot and Ryder Architecture's winning room design is named ‘AllGo’. It is an accessible room which can be adapted to the needs of the user through integrated and flexible design features that can be modified before the arrival of the guest.
Motionspot and Ryder will now aim to roll out pilot rooms in the coming year.
The entries were judged by a panel which included Paralympic gold medallist Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.
- Details
- Published: 19 December 2016
- Hits: 4502
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