Hotel group IHG adds 13 luxury and upscale hotels to their UK portfolio
This deal will establish IHG as the leading luxury hotel operator in the UK, taking it to more than 2k rooms in this valuable, fast growing segment. It will expand the presence for the InterContinental brand, and enable IHG to launch its leading luxury boutique brand, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants in the UK, adding multiple hotels for the brand in prime locations in major city centres, including London, Manchester and Edinburgh. This marks an important step in IHG’s plans to take the brand global, building on the first signings for Asia and China last year, and will act as a catalyst for Kimpton’s growth in Europe. The hotels they are expecting to acquire are currently operating under the Principle Hotels and De Vere Hotels brand.
Maritim Hotels building largest hotel in Amsterdam
Maritim are the largest privately owned hotel chain in Germany with 34 hotels all over the country. Their 4 star hotels are all very individual hotels, each reflecting the city and location where they are in. And in 2020 they will be opening the largest hotel in Amsterdam.
The 153-room hotel Hotel St. George opened on 2 May in a building that was once a newspaper printing house – designed by Onni Tarjanne and completed in 1840.
Now, the seven-story building – also once home to the Finnish Literature Society – has been reinvented and connected to an adjacent five-story structure.
It includes three contemporary food and drink outlets, spa, individually decorated rooms and suites, and several public spaces which host an impressive art collection of over 300 pieces, including a prominent dragon sculpture by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
The hotel, which includes a street-facing gallery and restaurant, has three meeting spaces for between eight and 12 people.
Concorde Conference Centre has been added to Lime Venues Portfolio
The Manchester Airport Concorde Conference and Events Centre, has become the latest venue to join the Lime Venue Portfolio. The attraction sits as part of the Runway Visitor Park, and adds further iconic meetings and events options into the venue group.
The venue is based just off site at Manchester Airport, and regularly caters for product launches, gala dinners, team building events, exhibitions or meetings – all taking place in and around one of the world’s most famous Concorde planes. The main stand out space, the Concorde Hangar, gives event delegates the chance to meet in the same room as the iconic Concorde.
“Lime Venue Portfolio is a strong brand within the meetings and events space and we felt its reach and brand strength would help get this exceptional venue in front of more national event organisers,” commented Robert Pattison, General Manager at Manchester Airport Concorde Conference and Events Centre. “We also wanted to make sure we take advantage of Lime Venue Portfolio’s quality benchmarking to ensure we always give the very best food, service and operational clients.”
Qbic Hotel London City has a newly refurbished restaurant, bar and meeting space with an exciting new sharing menu concept. You can also build your own G&T with the venue sourcing the very best locally made gins and tonics with unique flavour combinations!
AccorHotels has announced its new hotel, ibis Styles London Ealing, is due to open this summer.
The hotel is positioned just five minutes from Ealing Broadway underground station and will offer guests convenient, contemporary and well-connected accommodation.
The hotel has 120 cinematic themed rooms and features include 24-hour reception and free, super-fast fibre Wi-Fi.
It will also feature ibis’ unique guest welcome initiative, introduced in 2017, where guests are greeted on arrival by staff with room keys in hand who are linked to the ibis online fast check-in and check-out service via smartphones.
InterContinental Hotels Group has launched a new upscale conversion brand called Voco, with several Principal hotels set to join the portfolio.
The brand will allow owners the flexibility to interpret the brand’s bright and bold honey yellow and petrol blue colour scheme in a way that is sympathetic to their properties, while the existing name of hotels will be able to be retained alongside the use of the Voco name and signage.
IHG intends Voco, meaning ‘to invite’ or to ‘come together’ in Latin, to combine the informality and charm of independent properties with the quality and reassurance of a global brand.
Voco will focus primarily on conversion opportunities and will strengthen IHG’s offer in the £30b upscale segment, which is expected to grow by a further £15b by 2025.
The brand’s food and beverage offer will follow a ‘global and local’ theme, with bars offering pre-batched cocktails in order to offer uniform quality across properties, alongside local beverages.
The properties will also have an eco-focus, with duvets and pillows featuring recycled polyester instead of down, and large dispenser bathroom amenities instead of single-use products.
It’s 15 Hatfields 10th Anniversary and they have enjoyed every minute of the lead up to it, celebrating a decade of growth with some of most unforgettable moments and milestones. Plus, they have a birthday promise to share with you…
As London’s most sustainable events venue they have announced that they are working towards becoming a completely single-use plastic free events venue in 2019! 15 Hatfields have already reduced the use of single-use plastic from numerous products and services across our venue, including:
No plastic water bottles used, with only refillable and recycled glass bottles used since opening
No plastic straws available in the venue, only ever using recyclable paper straws
Free onsite water refill station, preventing the use of new single-use plastic bottles
Raw cane sugar bought in 25kg paper sacks instead of smaller individual plastic packets
Use of Teapigs tea bags, which are made from 100% compostable corn starch with packaging made from recycled card, vegetable inks and nature flex
Future goals to accomplish with their suppliers include:
Milk delivered and packaged in glass bottles or recycled cardboard, opposed to plastic cartons
Finding a sustainable alternative to plastic cling film used for food and catering
Completely removing the availability and use of any plastic eating utensils
W Hotels, part of Marriott International, has marked its return to Australia with the opening of W Brisbane.
The group formerly ran a hotel in Sydney, which closed down around ten years ago.
It is Brisbane’s first five-star hotel opening in 20 years.
Situated with views over Brisbane River, W Brisbane features 312 guest rooms, including 32 suites. The ‘Extreme Wow Suite’, the hotel’s presidential accommodation, is located on the 33rd floor and features panoramic views of the area surrounding the property.
The hotel features three food and drink options, including the Three Blue Ducks restaurant, the Living Room Bar and the WET Deck rooftop poolside bar.
For corporate events, W Brisbane offers 1,100sqm of space, with the 595sqm Great Room featuring AV facilities. Additional meeting rooms include the Studios and Strategy Room, which provide views of the river and floor-to-ceiling windows.
There is also a selection of treatments available at the AWAY Spa, which will soon feature a hair salon, and a fully-equipped gym.
W Hotels is planning further openings in Australia, with properties in Sydney and Melbourne set for completion in 2020.
FEST Camden is the new and unique, multi-faceted venue housed in a 200 year old horse hospital at Camden Stables Market. Having quickly picked up a reputation following a soft launch in April, the immersive space is now fully open with 4 unique events spaces. The historic venue has genuine charm, tasteful contemporary design and is a reflection of the multi-cultural hustle and bustle of the surrounding market area of Camden.
This storied and sympathetically refurbished space incorporates a nightclub and live music hall, lush rooftop garden with outdoor bar and pizza oven, enchanting themed party stables, a cabaret club with magical in house shows and a pizza restaurant with mouth-watering daily offerings. In the heart of Camden, the space has been carefully designed so that each area oozes class and authenticity.
Whether you are looking for the ideal venue for an evening drinks reception or a corporate conference Fest has the versatility and experienced team to accommodate all events in one of London most popular locations.
The venue has an overall capacity of 1000, the roof terrace can accommodate up to 400 guests for a drinks reception with the main bar holing 600 for a reception or 250 seated.
