Month: February 2019

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Second Scotsman Hotel set for Aberdeen

Plans to transform Aberdeen’s Woolmanhill Hospital into a second Scotsman hotel have been revealed. Full planning and listed building consent to transform the A-listed (Scotland’s highest listed building rating) building into a £10m, 52-bedroom luxury hotel and leisure complex. The project is expected to take four years to complete.

Glasgow-based hospitality firm G1 Group, who will undertake ownership of the hotel and 27 serviced apartments, plans to open the property under the Scotsman brand following its acquisition of the 69-bedroom, five-AA-star Scotsman hotel in Edinburgh in 2017.

The refurbishment will see the former hospital turned into a luxury hotel with wood-panelled bedrooms similar to its sister hotel, a bar, restaurant and ‘cinema club experience’, the hotel will feature a range of function areas for weddings and private functions and there are also plans to turn an old brick vaulted basement area into a late-night jazz bar. 

G1 Group’s hotel portfolio also includes the Grassmarket hotel, the Murrayfield hotel and the Inn on the Mile in Edinburgh, and the Palm Court hotel in Aberdeen.

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IHG to launch new all-suites upper midscale brand

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced plans to launch a new all-suites upper midscale brand in its preliminary 2018 financial results.

The company said launching the new brand this year would build on its “existing mainstream strength”, targeting an $18b (£14b) industry segment where strong guest and owner demand has driven around a 70% increase in room supply in the last four years.

The group reported total revenue for the year of $4.34b (£3.36m), an increase of 6% on the previous year, and operating profit of $670m (£519m), down 7%.

Global revenue per available room (revpar) increased 2.5% and IHG also announced it was raising the total dividend for the year by 10% and follows the payment of a $500m (£387m) special dividend in January 2019, taking total shareholder returns announced for the year to more than $700m (£542m).

The hotel company reported its strongest net system size growth in a decade of 4.8% including the addition of 56,000 room additions, up 17% year on year. After the removal of 18,000 rooms, this leaves IHG with 837,000 rooms globally.

Chief executive Keith Barr said: “We have made excellent progress in 2018 executing against the strategic initiatives I set out a year ago to accelerate our growth, whilst delivering a strong financial performance. The investments we have made have had a significant impact, allowing us to further evolve our established brands, move quickly to strengthen our portfolio both organically and by acquisition, and create real momentum in our business.

“Our strategic focus on accelerating our net rooms growth helped drive a net system size increase of 4.8%, and our best performance for both openings and signings in a decade, leaving us well-positioned for future growth.

“The investments we have made have been funded through our group efficiency programme which is on track to deliver $125m (£97m) of annual savings by 2020. We have successfully implemented a more efficient and agile organisational structure while building resources and capabilities focused on the most attractive growth opportunities.

“The fundamentals of our business remain strong, and while there are macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainties in some markets, we are confident in the year ahead and that our strategy will deliver industry-leading net rooms growth over the medium term.”

The group’s revpar in the UK grew just 1%, with London up 3% and the provinces flat. Fourth quarter revpar in the UK was up 4%, with strong leisure demand driving revpar in London up 10%, while the provinces were up just 1%.

2018 saw IHG acquire Principal with Covivio, enabling it to convert properties into the group’s first UK Voco and Kimpton hotels; as well as its acquisition of the luxury Regent Hotels & Resorts brand. IHG announced its acquisition of Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas just last week for £232m.

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Best Western takes over WorldHotels

Best Western Hotels & Resorts has acquired the upper upscale and luxury hotel marketing consortium WorldHotels.

This adds 300 independent properties to Best Western’s portfolio, including the Washington Mayfair hotel, the Caesar hotel, the Royal Garden hotel, the Courthouse hotel and the Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch, all in London.

WorldHotels will continue independently and member hotels will have access to Best Western’s loyalty programme, sales and marketing support, global distribution network and revenue engines.

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Travel buyers not impressed with new technology

Travel buyers are yet to be convinced by next generation technology, according to new Business Travel Show research.

More than half of the 134 European buyers polled believe that bots, Blockchain and alternative realities – such as augmented and virtual reality – will have minimal to no impact on the industry over the next three years. And just one fifth of buyers believe the technology will ‘significantly improve booking, saving time and money’ by 2022.

There appears to be marginally more faith in the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence (AI): 17 per cent believe it has the potential to ‘revolutionise’ the travel industry by 2022, one quarter feel it will ‘significantly enhance the traveller experience’ in that time, and just 39 per cent reckon it will have little or no impact.

Interestingly, the survey – which is part of the Business Travel Show’s ‘Travel 2022’ theme – also asked buyers how the industry will best survive the next three years. Despite the apparent nonchalance surrounding new technology, two thirds of those polled claim its survival will depend on innovation; 30 per cent believe it will be through evolution. Just 4 per cent think the sector needs a total reboot.

We Build Bots founder Paul Shepherd, who is taking part in a panel session about bots at the show, said: “When built and used correctly, chatbots can transform customer service, increase efficiencies and even help companies to save and make money. Multinational airlines and online travel sites would offer a competitive advantage if they were to offer a full integrated chatbot using AI and machine learning combined with customer service agent support in order to deliver a 24/7/365 intuitive service.”

Over the next three years, he said, “Natural Language Processing (NLP) will continue to improve, which means that chatbots will become easier and more intuitive to interact with. As well as this, the rise in voice will continue to have a huge impact. The possibilities of using voice are endless. Imagine asking your smart home device to check you into your next flight and receiving your boarding pass directly into your inbox. Or alternatively, ask it to search for a holiday that meets your needs, whether that be in school holidays, a particular temperature or less than a four-hour flight away. Chatbots use of voice is improving and evolving consistently and going forward, we’re sure to see huge developments in this space.”

The Business Travel Show is taking place on 20- 21 February 2019 at Olympia London.

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Second UK Voco Hotel opens in Solihull

The second UK hotel to operate under Voco – the new upscale brand from InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) – has opened in Solihull in the West Midlands. It joins the first Voco in the UK, the Voco St David’s, Cardiff.

The 180-bedroom Voco St John’s, Solihull, features 13 event spaces and a health club with indoor swimming pool and has recently undergone a major refurbishment to introduce Voco’s bold and distinctive interior design . It joins the first Voco in the UK, the Voco St David’s, Cardiff.

Further Voco openings this year will include the rebranding of three hotels from the Principal and De Vere brands. They include Oxford Thames and Oxford Spires, which will both join Voco in May, and Grand Central Glasgow (July).

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New HBAA Executive Committee train to be Mental Health First Aiders

As the first step in the HBAA’s 2019 major initiative to encourage action on mental health issues in the event industry, the new HBAA Executive Committee members have been trained to be Mental Health First Aiders.

The two-day course at Wyboston Lakes Resort gave the Committee members many valuable practical skills and increased their awareness and understanding of what affects mental wellbeing. The course taught them how to spot triggers and signs of mental health issues and gave them enhanced non-judgemental interpersonal skills. They also learnt how to reassure and support a person in distress and how to help someone recover their health.

The HBAA is arranging for this course to be available to members, setting up open courses to take place in April and June.

After completing the course Angie Mason, HBAA Chair said: “The last two days have been so enlightening. It totally reinforced in my mind what a vital issue this is and how important our campaign is. There is so much that most of us don’t know about mental health issues so we want as many people as possible to sign up for these courses. Anyone could save a life.”

The HBAA Executive Committee, which comprises the Committee Chairs and Past Chairs, has three new members for 2019.

Alexis Moreau is the new HBAA Tech & Innovation Chair and Lex Butler is the new HBAA Events Committee Chair for 2019 while Nick Scott of ArrangeMY now chairs the Business Accommodation Committee.

Nick Scott joined ArrangeMY in 2004 and has been Managing Director since 2008.

Alexis Moreau - Head of Conference and Catering Services at Robinson College at the University of Cambridge.

Alexis Moreau is the Head of Conference and Catering Services at Robinson College at the University of Cambridge.
Lex Butler - Creative Director and Owner of Wolf & White.

Lex Butler is the Creative Director and Owner of Wolf & White.
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Challenges ahead warns Millennium & Copthorne

Millennium and Copthorne Hotels has warned investors that the hospitality industry faces ‘intensifying’ challenges in the near future in the form of staff shortages and competition from the growth of Airbnb and serviced apartments.

The company’s chairman Kwek Leng Beng made the comments as it revealed a drop in pre-tax profit for 2018 to £106 million – down 28 per cent on 2017 in constant currency. The fourth quarter was particularly hard, with profits falling 76 per cent to £7 million.

Beng blamed “a range of geopolitical and global economic headwinds”, including US and China trade relations, Brexit and increasing minimum wage levels in several markets.

The company also saw revenue per available room fall 7.4 per cent in London, mostly driven by the closure of its Mayfair hotel for refurbishment. Excluding that property, revenue grew 3.3 per cent. The hotel is set to reopen as the Biltmore, Mayfair in the second quarter of this year (new bedroom pictured).

Millennium and Copthorne says a particular challenge in the UK is the effect of Brexit. It claims to be struggling to recruit EU workers, “which currently comprise more than half of the London workforce”. Minimum wage increases in the UK have also reportedly added to cost pressures for the group.

Looking ahead, Beng said: “The board’s priority is to evaluate and develop new and innovative strategic plans to meet the challenges facing our fast-changing operating environment. The shortage of talent – from rank and file to senior management – is intensifying with many new hotels being built around the world, not to mention the growth of Airbnb and serviced apartments. Any hospitality business that wants to progress will need to evolve and embrace these changes to stay relevant and profitable in the immediate and medium term. Restoring profitability in our New York hotels also remains at the top of the board’s objectives.

“Meanwhile, we continue to invest in and reposition our hotels. We look forward to our Mayfair hotel being rebranded and opened as the Biltmore, Mayfair in the second quarter of this year. This is the first opening under Hilton’s new LXR Hotels & Resorts collection in Europe. This also will mark the group’s debut in the London five-star deluxe market and it is our aim to fast-track our lost earnings growth at this hotel after it re-opens.

“2019 will be another challenging year for the group, with significant capital projects underway and several large hotels earmarked for major renovations. These investments will be carefully managed and phased to deliver the right returns to shareholder and underline the group’s intention to maintain strict control of costs throughout the business.”

Millennium and Copthorne Hotels operates the Leng’s Collection, M Social, Studio M, Millennium, Grand Millennium, M Hotel, Copthorne and Kingsgate brands.

In September 2018, the group’s CEO Jennifer Fox stepped down after just three months in the role.

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First Staybridge Suites property for Scotland

A former abandoned linen mill in Dundee has been converted into the first Staybridge Suites property in Scotland. The IHG property is adjacent to sister-property Hotel Indigo Dundee which opened last July.

Many of the 85 one bedroom and studio suites include original features including brick ceilings and iron beams. The suites are designed to cater for guests making extended stays with living areas, kitchens and flexible work spaces.

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RBH properties boosted by customer service recognition

Several properties operated by UK independent hotel management company, RBH, have been given the BVA BDRC seal of approval following glowing customer service feedback.

Nine hotels within the RBH portfolio were named among BVA BDRC’s VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditations, with a further nine properties commended for their performance in 2018.

The recognition comes from the only meetings accreditation programme driven solely by the voice of the customer, with scores generated following event feedback from meeting bookers and event hosts between January and December 2018.

The hotels which have achieved BVA BDRC Gold Standard Accreditations for 2018 are:

Ashford International Hotel, Chesford Grange Hotel, Crowne Plaza London – Docklands, Crowne Plaza Reading, DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Westerwood Spa & Golf Resort, Dunston Hall, The Cheltenham Chase Hotel, Doubletree by Hilton Oxford Belfry and The Queens.

Rob Ledson, group director of Sales at RBH, said: “Our properties have consistently produced exceptional VenueVerdict scores over recent years, and 2018 was no exception.

“It goes without saying that we’re thrilled to see our teams’ hard work and commitment to providing first class service and facilities for meetings and events clients recognised. Our focus is to ensure these standards are maintained in 2019.”

BVA BDRC is the UK’s largest independent research consultancy and BVA BDRC VenueVerdict accreditations are based entirely on genuine, verified customer feedback, reflecting the cream of the nation’s meetings providers.