Opening on the outskirts of Scunthorpe, DoubleTree by Hilton Forest Pines Spa & Golf Resort offers 188 bedrooms with flexible meetings and events spaces. Within the 1,000 square metre area the largest of the 11 rooms can hold up to 400 delegates. In addition to the purpose-built events centre, the hotel, operated by RBH, offers experienced therapists in the Spa and a 27-hole championship golf course.
2019 will continue to see high levels of cross-border investment
The strong levels of cross-border investment into the European hotel market – which reached $4.9b (£3.8b) in 2018 – will continue in 2019.
The JLL’s Hotel Investment Outlook 2019 predicts that, despite political uncertainty, tourism and business fundamentals remain solid thanks to strong infrastructure developments in the region, which will continue to attract international investors towards strong assets and opportunities in these markets.
Germany and the UK account for nearly 60% of pipeline rooms currently under construction and are expected to absorb additional supply in the medium term due to strong tourism growth forecasts.
The report predicts that the European hotel market will be driven mostly by single asset deals, with portfolio trades expected to reduce, given the significant volumes of transaction of this type seen over the past two years. Overall investment volumes across Europe, the Middle East and Africa are expected to soften to $21.2b (£16.3b) from $22.9b £17.6b) in 2018.
It also predicts the sector will see new investors emerging, with diverse sources of core and core-plus capital are increasingly considering investment in the hotel market, and an increase in hotels entering the flexible workspace market transforming hotel lobbies into communal workspaces.
Philip Ward, EMEA CEO, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, said: “Political uncertainty and the volatility in equity markets will test investors’ sentiment throughout the year. However, we expect hotel investment volumes to hold steady on 2018 levels owing to hotels’ attractive yield profile compared to other sectors.”
Refurbishment for 150-year-old Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel
All six event rooms at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel have been completely refurbished, creating almost 7,000sqm venue space with 20 breakout rooms. The largest meeting room, the Kings Suite, is one of Bristol’s largest event spaces with capacity for 350 guests. The refurbishment enhances the Royal wing which has it’s own private dining area.
The Miller & Carter Steakhouse opened its flagship restaurant inside the hotel in December 2018, offering breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner as well as an extensive bar list.
Hard Rock Hotel Amsterdam American set for 2020 debut
Hard Rock Hotel Amsterdam American has been scheduled to open in April 2020. Located on the lively Leidseplein Square, the venue will be brought to life in one of the city’s most famous Art Nouveau style buildings, built in 1900 and formerly known as the American Hotel.
Featuring 173 rooms and suites and newly renovated interiors, the hotel will keep all vintage decorative features intact throughout, from stained-glass windows to vibrant paintings on the interior walls, which will also be adorned with signature Hard Rock memorabilia.
The Hard Rock Hotel Amsterdam American will boast a number of meeting spaces totalling over 230 square-meters, as well as brand-signature amenities, such as a Body Rock fitness centre.
Tourism industry confident despite Brexit, says UKinbound research
The research, which was collected by Qa Research, found that 59% of UKinbound members stated they were confident about business in the upcoming 12 months. This was the highest rate recorded since October 2017.
The increase in confidence was influenced by an influx of forward bookings, the value of the pound, and increased interest from North American and Asian markets.
Business also signalled that the number one activity they’re expecting to be most in demand from inbound tourists are cultural experiences, followed by ‘bespoke activities’.
However, businesses also stated the industry faces a number of problems in the upcoming months, notably the uncertainty around Brexit.
Staff recruitment and retention, improving the UK’s product offering and offers for visitors, attracting visitors from new markets, and currency fluctuations were also cited as general concerns.
A review of 2018 found a few interesting statistics:
- Throughout 2018 China and the US remained the two top growth markets
- Less than a third (28%) of members felt that over-tourism has a negative impact on their business
- A key challenge for many members continued to be the reduction of available EU workers
UKinbound CEO Joss Croft commented: “It is encouraging that even with the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, our latest Business Barometer shows that forward bookings are strong and that there is an increase in confidence levels amongst some of our members.
“However, we remain concerned about the Government’s proposed immigration strategy post-Brexit, which will look to restrict employing EU nationals to those only earning over £30k.
“Recruitment and retention of staff in the industry is already a challenge – due in part to Brexit, and this proposed restriction could have a real impact on the industry, which relies heavily on its EU employees due to their language and customer service skills.”
RFPs next discussion for EventHuddle February edition
Industry discussion forum EventHuddle will be looking at requests for proposal (RFP) at its next edition.
EventHuddle CEO Kirk Thomas said: “Receiving a RFP should be a joyous occasion; someone out there has expressed an interest in potentially working with your company. But for hundreds of event venues and suppliers up and down the country, the RFP has become a torturous process.
”The explosion in agencies over the last decade has lead to many businesses receiving 50-100 RFPs a day, many with 24 hour response deadlines, some with as little as one hour. As if that isn’t daunting enough, they then need to contend with incompatible software, blanket RFPs which could be classed as spam, speculative RFPs (where the agency hasn’t won the business yet), duplicate RFPs (multiple agencies sending the same request), etc. All while trying to manage the many other responsibilities of your job.”
The event takes place on Tuesday 28 February, from 8.15-10.30am at 1 Wimpole Street, London and will include breakfast.
The panel will look at the RFP process, discuss what needs to change, offer tips on how to handle the overwhelming task and answer questions.
For more information and to sign up visit the EventHuddle site.
The January edition of EventHuddle saw a discussion of what would happen to the events industry post-Brexit.
Former MP and Rapiergroup MD Nick de Bois told attendees it was important for the industry to prepare for a no-deal Brexit. The former chief of staff to former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said that no deal would be challenging, but not the end of the world, and advised event professionals to prepare for it by reading the government’s technical advice.
Cutting the use of plastic at Events
Reducing our use of plastic, particularly single use plastic, is a hot topic at the moment and we all know that there is a lot of waste created by events and exhibitions. Recycling has increased, but it’s probably best to stop the problem at the source. So, we’ve taken a look at a few things that can be changed to reduce our use of plastic at our events.
- Plan from Day One
Talk to all the stakeholders and clients to see what is important to them. Do they have a sustainability policy? If so this should be shared at the earliest possible stage of planning.
Think about what will be thrown away at the end of the event and try to find an alternative from the start.
- Venue finding
Ask the prospective venues questions about their use of plastic items and recycling policy and find solutions that are easy to implement. If you want a plastic-free event, then the best way to start is to find a venue and destination that matches your requirements. That’s far easier than introducing a new way of working to a venue that’s not set up for it.
- Name badges
There are lots of alternatives to the plastic badge holder. The simple solution is just to clip the badge straight on to the lanyard and it’s easier to reuse the lanyards at another event afterwards.
- Ban plastic water bottles and single use coffee cups
Ask your venue to provide alternatives. If there’s a goodie bag, how about putting a keep cup or reusable bottle in there for the event attendees to use. Lots of people have their own already and are happy to use them. They also carry water bottles, so water dispensers can be used, with ice and fruit, instead of bottles of water.
- Straws
Ir’s now quite unusual to be given a drink with a plastic straw. Lots of venues are now using paper straws, but consider if you need straws at all.
- Signage
Can the signage be re-used, or if not can it be recycled? Try not to laminate any paper, as this can’t be recycled.
- Conference bags and incentive items
Make sure they are environmentally friendly and of value or they will be discarded during the event.
- Recycling
The recycling bins need to be obvious and have clear labels of what can be recycled in which bin.
This week Excel has announced a ‘No Plastic’ campaign and all plastic straws have been removed by retailers in the central boulevard. They also offer a discount to customers who have a reusable cup. Permanent water fountains have been installed to provide free chilled water to visitors, exhibitors and organisers who bring a reusable container. They’ve also introduced new waste bins to enable visitors to sort their rubbish more easily.
Scandic Hotels decided to stop using plastic straws and cocktail sticks in all of its hotels and are working to remove all single-use disposable items made of plastic. They were using approximately 1.3 million straws and 120 000 cocktail sticks every year. The plastic lids for take away coffee mugs have been replaced with biodegradable ones. This group has provided toiletries in large dispensers for many years.
IHG has already removed plastic straws from around 1,000 hotels in Europe, Middle East and Africa and they’ve announced that plastic straws will be removed from all hotels by the end of 2019, which is more than 5,400 hotels in nearly 100 countries. They are also are introducing bulk-size bathroom amenities to several hotel brands in the Americas, as part of broader efforts to reduce waste.
New Congress venue to open in 2020 in Copenhagen
The Hangar, a new congress venue in Copenhagen is scheduled for completion in 2020. It will be the biggest airport hotel and congress venue in Northern Europe featuring 2,500 sqm of space with a capacity for 2,150 people.
The venue can be divided into five parts, with a capacity of 400 people for each part. Situated five minutes from the metro, train and gates at Copenhagen Airport makes the venue ideal for both international congresses and local events.
Updates from the Arora Group
Arora Group are a privately owned group of hotels made up of 10 hotels in London, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted.
All the hotels have great access by road, rail & air. Arora is the small group with big MICE space, with over 100 meetings rooms to choose from and over 7500 sq2 of meetings space to fill.
The newest opening is the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn at T4 Heathrow in October 2018, another new opening in 2019 which will be the Hilton Garden Inn at T2. It will be the tallest building at Heathrow after the control tower.
Radisson Blu open in Switzerland
Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen, Andermatt, has opened in Switzerland, the 224-room hotel is part of an extensive transformation that seeks to build on Andermatt’s growing status as a year-round destination for visitors.
Located halfway between Zurich and Milan (and just 30 minutes away from Lucerne), the Swiss village of Andermatt lies at an elevation of 1,444 meters and is easily accessible by car or train.
The Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen, features suites and apartments designed in the style typical of Swiss chalets. The hotel also offers excellent infrastructure for business and private events.