Hotels, Venues & Event news
This 4-star boutique hotel is located in the centre of Madrid, on Calle Barquillo, close to Paseo de Recoletos and in the Chueca neighborhood. It is a former Palace, dating from 19th century, now with contemporary interiors in a blue and white theme. There are three meeting areas: a boardroom for 10 people and two larger rooms for 40 and 18 people in theatre style. The hotel has 70 bedroom, which includes 7 suites. The bar and lounge have music and are popular with locals.
On Tuesday 29th September 2015, the Mercure Danum Doncaster Center opened following extensive renovation and refurbishment of the Danum Hotel. The building dates from 1809 and is in Doncaster High Street. The design has been inspired by the history of Doncaster races, which is regarded as one of the finest racecourse in Europe. The hotel has commission bespoke designed artwork and wall features from a local artist.
The hotel has five meeting rooms, the largest is the Ballroom for 350 people in theatre-style. The four smaller meeting rooms have capacity for 100, 40, 15 and 10 in theater style. The hotel has 62 bedrooms, with a modern/traditional mix.
We had a meeting with Hilton yesterday and here are a few things that you might not know about their hotels:
We had a visit from Accor last month and they told us about their plans for the future and updated us on the latest new from their hotels. They have about 3,500 properties worldwide and are building/acquiring an additional 800 new hotels over the new two years. Most of this growth will be in Asia, but some will bein Europe and roughly 100 of these will be in the UK.
We will write full report on the hotels when they open, so come back to The Word, for more information in due course.
The new 4-star Crowne Plaza Aberdeen Airport, has opened. It is located next to the group’s recently opened 193-bed Holiday Inn Express at the Airport.
There is a dedicated conference centre with its own seperate entrance to the main hotel. It contains 10 meeting and events rooms, all on the ground floor with natural daylight and open our onto a spacious lobby that has bar and tea and coffee facilities. The largest meeting room has capacity for 80 people in theatre style.
Madinat Jumeirah, the Arabian Resort of Dubai, will offer the largest hotel event space in the United Arab Emirates when the Fort Island expansion is completed in October 2015. Covering more than 1,750 square meters of outdoor space, it is now possible to build large marquees.
The area has tripled in size and will now be able to host banquets, parties, exhibitions, product launches, music concerts, weddings, sports events and festivals for up to 1,400 people. The capacities at Fort Island have increased from 425 people to 1400 people in a cocktail set-up and from 250 people to 1100 people in a banquet style set-up in rounds of 10.
The venue will feature an attractive and sustainable landscape, while preserving the fort’s traditional look and feel. Located in the heart of the resort and surrounded by Madinat Jumeirah’s characteristic waterways, the venue has views of the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. The venue was originally commissioned in recognition of the history, culture and character of old Dubai and was inspired by the Al Fahdi fort located in the oldest existing part of the Dubai creek.
Fort Island will be connected to the resort by four bridges and guests can also access the venue by the traditional wooden abra boats when staying in one of Madinat Jumeirah’s three hotels.
An integral part of the existing Madinat Jumeirah’s Conference Centre, the new island will increase the centre’s overall capacity to 9,000 people over 10,000 square meters. The Conference Centre is home to international events such as Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), the World Economic Forum and is the proud sponsor of Art Dubai.
The entrance to this hotel is a converted barn, which is spacious and gives a lovely welcome. There is plenty of free parking and the hotel is easy to find. It is right on the Thames, with gardens going down to the river and it has a permanent boat which can be used for drinks, bbq, etc. The dinner restaurant looks over this area and has access outside. There is a conservatory next door, which serves breakfast and conference lunch.
The Kennington meeting room is on the 1st floor above the restaurant and has views of the gardens and river. It holds up to 80 people theatre-style and alcoves can be used for informal break out areas and there is a coffee station in the room. The Oxford Suite is the largest room and is on the ground floor with access to its own outside area. This room holds 90 people cabaret style, or can be divided into three smaller rooms. The Little Barn is a beautiful converted barn, for 50 cabaret style or 75 theatre style and also has access to a terrace.
The hotel is currently building 20 more bedrooms, which will make a total of 104 when the work has been completed.
Considerations
Oxford is always heavily booked with leisure guests. This hotel would like more day business of groups up to 90 people or residential groups of 10-15 people. The daily delegate rate is very competitively priced because they want to attract this business and can easily fill bedrooms with leisure travellers.