Hotel & Venue News

London will soon boast the tallest Novotel in the world. Novotel London Canary Wharf opens in 2016. It will be 42 storey's high with over 400 bedrooms plus a restaurant and bar on the top floor with what should be an amazing view. You will find Novotel London Canary Wharf at 40 Marsh Street.

A roundup of other planned new UK hotels from Accor includes:

Both the Mercure Windsor and the Mercure Cheltenham will shortly be rebranded as MGallery Collection hotels following a full refurbishment. MGallery Collection is Accor’s luxury boutique hotel grouping. So far there is only one MGallery in the UK – Francis Hotel in Bath.

The new Mercure Edinburgh Quays has recently opened. Mercure Derby, formerly the Days Inn Derby opens in November 2015.

Finally the former Ramada Encore Birmingham NEC and Ramada Encore Crewe will both be rebranded as Ibis Styles properties later this year.

Details: www.accorhotels.com

Details: Published: 07 July 2015; Hits: 1084

Property specialists - Savills - are predicting a huge increase in the number of new hotels which will be required following a decision to build a new runway at either Heathrow or Gatwick airports.

Demand for rooms at Heathrow could increase by as much as 71 per cent and at Gatwick by 42 per cent. This translates to an additional 4,800 rooms and 4,000 rooms respectively.

Even without extra runway capacity, passenger numbers at Gatwick and Heathrow are rising (up by 7.5 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively in 2014 compared to the previous year). The historical link between airport passenger numbers and hotel demand means that any form of expansion generates a need for additional supply.

Savills also highlight the arrival of the new pod hotel concepts at the airports - brands such as Yotel and budget boutique operators such as Bloc. Citizen M, with no presence yet at a UK airport, but which does have a property at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, is another brand they tip to watch.

Full report

Details: Published: 07 July 2015; Hits: 1105

Weetwood Hall hotel and conference centre on the northern ring-road in Leeds has unveiled plans to develop a new destination restaurant.

An extension is proposed for the existing brasserie restaurant at Weetwood Hall to allow for a 90-cover contemporary restaurant for hotel guests and delegates, as well as the local community as a standalone destination restaurant.

Weetwood Hall is set in nine acres of woodland and gardens and includes 114 bedrooms alongside a conference centre. The hotel is owned by the University of Leeds.

Plans for the restaurant have been lodged with Leeds City Council

Details: www.insidermedia.com

Details: Published: 06 July 2015; Hits: 1098

Marco Pierre White is to open a steakhouse and grill at Hinckley Island Hotel in Leicestershire in August 2015. It follows a £310,000 refurbishment of the hotel’s restaurant.

The new 180-seat restaurant will be operated under a franchise agreement with Black and White Hospitality, which owns the master franchise with Marco Pierre White for the Steakhouse Bar & Grill brand.

Hinckley Island Hotel includes 362 bedrooms and 25 meeting rooms with the largest seating up to 650 delegates theatre-style. It is situated just off the M69 within easy reach of the M1 and M6 motorways. It is in close proximity to the National Space Centre and Twycross Zoo.

Details: www.thehotelcollection.co.uk

Details: Published: 06 July 2015; Hits: 1314

The new four-star Pullman Liverpool Hotel currently under construction in Kings Dock on Liverpool's waterfront and alongside the new Exhibition Centre Liverpool is not expected to open now before January 2016. Exhibition Centre Liverpool is scheduled to open in September 2015.

Pullman Liverpool will include 216 bedrooms, a brasserie style restaurant and bar and 8,100 sq-mt of flexible, accessible event space comprising three meeting rooms, the largest of which will accommodate up to 120 delegates.

It will be the second Pullman Hotel in the UK – the first being Pullman London St Pancras which opened in 2012.

Details: www.pullmanhotels.com