Two Four Seasons properties will open in France in late 2017. The Four Seasons Megève will face onto Mont Blanc, and will have 55 bedrooms as the base of the Mont d’Arbois in the French Alps. Nearby, in the medieval village of Mont d’Arbois, a collection of existing chalets will be renovated and turned into the Chalet Du Mont d’Arbois Megève.
Between the two hotels, guests will have access to four dining outlets, and an 18-hole golf course. The project is being executed in partnership with Edmond de Rothschild Heritage, a lifestyle company with family links to the area.
Four Seasons announce new European hotels
Two Four Seasons properties will open in France in late 2017. The Four Seasons Megève will face onto Mont Blanc, and will have 55 bedrooms as the base of the Mont d’Arbois in the French Alps. Nearby, in the medieval village of Mont d’Arbois, a collection of existing chalets will be renovated and turned into the Chalet Du Mont d’Arbois Megève.
Between the two hotels, guests will have access to four dining outlets, and an 18-hole golf course. The project is being executed in partnership with Edmond de Rothschild Heritage, a lifestyle company with family links to the area.
The 5-star Protur Biomar Gran Hotel & Spa has recently refurbished its facilities to enhance its services with the latest technology which includes a new 5×3 m LED screen in the large auditorium, which enables the hotel to transmit image sensations in a way that was unimaginable until now. The grand auditorium, with a surface area of more than 400 m2 and ceilings up to 8.5 m high, has a movable stage to adapt to the needs of any event.
The hotel has nine conference halls of different sizes, as well as numerous multi-purpose rooms for the perfect event: whether outdoors at the poolside, in the gardens or on the terraces, you will always find the ideal backdrop.
Located just 300 meters from the beach of Sa Coma, the Protur Biomar Gran Hotel & Spa has 216 fully equipped modern rooms and five special thematic restaurants, to accommodate gala dinners of up to 400 guests, both indoors and outdoors
Tamburlaine in the new CB1 city quarter development around Cambridge railway station is designed to appeal to locals as well as both leisure and business travellers. Providing 155 rooms, an all-day Brasserie style restaurant, Bar and Garden Room, which will serve Tiffin and afternoon tea, and a standalone Deli, serving locally grown produce and artisan treats, along with a variety of meeting rooms. The Tamburlaine is due to open in March 2017 is part of the O’Callaghan group and has been designed to create a hotel as unique as Cambridge itself. The meeting space will provide a calm. Peaceful , productive atmosphere with a choice of configurations to accommodate smaller away-days, seminars and conferences.
In addition to the Elbphilharmonie, philharmonic hall opening on 11th January (pictured), 15 hotels are set to launch in Hamburg during 2017 adding a total of over 2,300 rooms to the local market. Ranging from three to five stars they are located all across town. Many of them offer meeting and event spaces and these are some of the new hotspots:
The Fontenay Hamburg
Located on the shores of the Alster lake in the heart of the city this hotel is a member of Leading Hotels of the world. There are 110 bedrooms and four meeting rooms, the largest has capacity for 120 theatre-style
Sir Nikolai Hotel
Sir Nikolai will offer 94 luxury guest rooms, suites and residences and it is a member of Design Hotels. The meeting space is to be confirmed, although there is a Spa, a Creative Space and Asian Kitchen & Bar, a contemporary eating venue serving Asian secrets infused with Peruvian spices.
Holiday Inn Hamburg − City Nord
Due to open in March, this hotel will have 297 bedrooms and 12 meeting rooms.
The Castle Inn in Castle Coombe is bought by Exclusive Hotels
Exclusive Hotels and Venues is buying the 11-bedroom Castle Inn, which is beside the Manor House which it already owns. The two properties are in Castle Coombe, Wiltshire and the sale is due to be completed by 30th January.
The Manor House has 48-bedrooms and the addition of the Castle Inn will add two more bedrooms through the refurbishment of a cottage within its grounds.
The company is also currently expanding through the development of a £11.5m spa at South Lodge. The group currently consists of three five star hotels: Pennyhill Park in Bagshot, Surrey, South Lodge in Lower Bedding, West Sussex, and Lainston House, near Winchester, Hampshire as well as two meeting venues: Fanhams Hall, Ware, Hertfordshire and Royal Berkshire, Ascot, Berkshire.
Airbnb – how will it affect the hotel and meeting industry?
Morgan Stanley recently published a survey of 4.000 people which has shown that 12% of leisure and business travellers have used Airbnb and this figure is increasing.
The estimate is that next year 18% leisure and 16% of business travellers will use the service and there is opportunity for further increase as both categories are 90%+ satisfied and only 41% of our survey sample was aware of Airbnb and 25% had tried it.
Price is the primary reason that people use Airbnb, however 66% of American Airbnb users earn more than $75,000 a year, contradicting the popular belief that the users are college students, millennials and individuals with lower incomes.
Less than half of Airbnb demand coming at the expense of traditional hotels:
42% of Airbnb users are substituting traditional hotels
36% switch from bed & breakfasts
31% are using Airbnb rather than staying with friends and family
20% are using Airbnb rather than holiday rental
7% of Airbnb users stay 1 night (it is 25% for traditional hotels)
The report indicates that Airbnb is taking business from non-hotel, leisure, longer-duration stays, rather than corporate single-night stays due to safety and privacy concerns, amenities such as loyalty programs, business centres, restaurants etc. Overall around 70% of hotels’ business is from corporate demand. Morgan Stanley’s survey shows that Airbnb leisure use is growing faster than corporate use and however, it could have negative impact on annual hotel occupancies and annual RevPAR growth.
A new 5*GL hotel is opening on 16th January. Part of the H10 group, the One is located close to Passeig de Gràcia and has 89 guest rooms & suites.
There are two meeting rooms, both with natural daylight, which are contemporary in style. Combined the capacity is 60 in theatre-style or as two separate rooms 36 and 18 in each.
There is a roof-top terrace with views over the city.
The Felbridge Hotel has been rebranded as the Crowne Plaza Felbridge
The Felbridge Hotel near East Grinstead has plans to spend £3m on refurbishment and it will be rebranded as the Crowne Plaza Felbridge.
The refurbishment work will be carried out in April this year and the hotel’s public areas, restaurant, meeting rooms, banqueting suites, 116 bedrooms and suites will all be renovated. A private dining area will be created in the Bay Tree Restaurant.
The hotel has 7 meeting rooms and a maximum capacity of 500 in theatre style.
London Heathrow Marriott has unveiled its brand new conference and meeting space after undergoing an extensive, multi-million pound refurbishment programme.
This is 14 fully, redesigned meeting rooms with the vision to provide state-of-the-art conference facilities. The new conference space now offers a maximum meeting room capacity of up to 480 people and all rooms are equipped with innovative technology such as Write on Walls, Barco Clickshare, LED screens, Bluetooth sound bars and an integrated PA system.
Speaking about the refurbishment, general manager, Ron Vos, said: “We are delighted with our new conference space and we’ve had very positive responses from the show-rounds so far.“The renovation covers 900 square metres and we’ve moved away from the traditional, offering innovative, modern solutions for our meeting delegates. The space is perfect for larger conferences and exhibitions – proving to be especially important given the fact that many overseas conferences are opting to stay in Heathrow instead of going in to Central London.We’re keen to provide our visitors with the very best stay and I’m sure the new conference facilities will play a pivotal role in delivering guest satisfaction.”
London Heathrow Marriott reveals new conference space!
London Heathrow Marriott has unveiled its brand new conference and meeting space after undergoing an extensive, multi-million pound refurbishment programme.
This is 14 fully, redesigned meeting rooms with the vision to provide state-of-the-art conference facilities. The new conference space now offers a maximum meeting room capacity of up to 480 people and all rooms are equipped with innovative technology such as Write on Walls, Barco Clickshare, LED screens, Bluetooth sound bars and an integrated PA system.
Speaking about the refurbishment, general manager, Ron Vos, said: “We are delighted with our new conference space and we’ve had very positive responses from the show-rounds so far.“The renovation covers 900 square metres and we’ve moved away from the traditional, offering innovative, modern solutions for our meeting delegates. The space is perfect for larger conferences and exhibitions – proving to be especially important given the fact that many overseas conferences are opting to stay in Heathrow instead of going in to Central London.We’re keen to provide our visitors with the very best stay and I’m sure the new conference facilities will play a pivotal role in delivering guest satisfaction.”
