More than 300 event, hospitality and travel professionals in the UK and Europe are set to attend the first ever Cvent CONNECT Europe conference at the Pullman London St Pancras from 17th-18th October 2017.
YOTEL announced today that a fund affiliated with Starwood Capital Group ("Starwood"), a leading global private investment firm, has committed to making a strategic investment of $250 million in YOTEL, including acquiring a 30 percent stake in the company and investing in real estate acquisitions for new build, hotel conversion and adaptive reuse properties as YOTEL expands its international scale.
They are considered the industry's gold-standard accolades – and, here, MailOnline Travel can exclusively reveal the winners of AA's Hospitality Awards 2017. The annual ceremony took place at London's Grosvenor House Hotel today after a panel of judges spent twelve months travelling the country, where they sampled the nation's ultimate pubs, restaurants and hotels. As part of their research they tasted moreish morsels, slept in sumptuous surroundings and consumed a cocktail of beverages across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Simply put, in the United Kingdom's hospitality industry, demand for lodging has outstripped supply. In the entire country, the top ten hotel brands operate about 205,000 rooms, 54 percent of which are considered budget properties. With this in mind, hotel managers have worked to boost revenue throughout the industry by focusing on increasing it per available room in all markets.
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group"s European flagship Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, has unveiled the first phase of its extensive restoration, designed to confirm this historic hotel"s position as one of the best in the world. The hotel remains open throughout the renovation which will be completed in the third quarter of 2018.
Brexit will once again take centre stage at HOSPACE2017 – the annual conference and exhibition of HOSPA, the UK's leading organization for hospitality professionals involved in Financial Management, Revenue Management, Marketing and IT – on 2 November at the Royal Lancaster London.
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has been appointed by global real estate investment firm Qatari Diar to manage a new hotel located on Grosvenor Square, in London"s prestigious Mayfair district. Set to be housed in the building that currently serves as the U.S. Embassy, it will mark the second Rosewood property in London and its sixth in Europe.
Finchatton, the preeminent international design and development firm, has partnered with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the world"s leading luxury hospitality company, to offer the first standalone Four Seasons Private Residences, located at Twenty Grosvenor Square in London. Opening in 2018, the residences will be the first Four Seasons Private Residences to be operated independently of a Four Seasons hotel or resort.
Hotels good fortune continues but as uncertainty weighs in, is this as good as it gets? UK hotels have enjoyed record trading, underpinned by the boom in overseas leisure travel. PwC forecast a slower pace of growth in 2018 as the stimulus of the weak pound starts to weaken, and new supply kicks in. Add into the mix, global political volatility, an expected deceleration in UK economic growth and continued Brexit policy uncertainty, and we look to a more cautious, but still reasonably strong growth forecast in 2018.
One Aldwych, Covent Garden, one of London’s most acclaimed luxury independently-owned hotels and member of Leading Hotels of the World, is pleased to announce Simon Hirst as Managing Director. Home to 93 guestrooms and 12 suites plus two renowned restaurants: the recently launched Eneko London by three Michelin-starred Basque Chef Eneko Atxa and Indigo, Hirst returns to the hotel where he launched the property as General Manager. He re-joins One Aldwych as a Board member and Managing Director. Hirst brings over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry to his new position at One Aldwych. He began his career with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, holding senior management positions with the group’s hotels in Hong Kong and San Francisco. Since, Hirst was General Manager at Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in London, Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, and The Four Seasons in Chiang Mai. In 1997, Simon was appointed as opening General Manager of One Aldwych, London. Over the next 14 years at One Aldwych he also oversaw Carlisle Bay, Antigua, Dukes, London and Le Gray, Beirut. He joined Raffles Hotels & Resorts as General Manager of Raffles Seychelles in 2011 and two years later became General Manager of Raffles Singapore.
It has become a tradition over the last four years: the mayor of London launching the autumn cultural season of the British capital in the presence of several hundred VIPs and the cream of the crop of London's cultural institutions.
On the 31st of August, Sadiq Khan upheld this tradition during a soiree held at the Museum of Natural History, in Hintze Hall, where a gigantic blue whale skeleton was recently suspended from the ceiling.
In the context of this pre-Brexit period, Sadiq Khan the successor to the flamboyant Boris Johnson – the current Secretary of State for foreign and Commonwealth affairs of Theresa May's Conservative government – spared no effort convincing patrons of London's appeal.
STR's preliminary August 2017 data for hotels in London, England, indicates a year-over-year decline in occupancy levels, but growth in average daily rate (ADR).Based on daily data from August, London reported the following in year-over-year comparisons:
Robin Sheppard, Founder and Chairman of Bespoke Hotels, has made a significant donation to the Oxford School of Hospitality Management at Oxford Brookes University to support student learning. His generous donation will give students access to a range of co-curricular activities that will strengthen their management competencies.
aul Duggan has been appointed General Manager of the 615-bedroom 4-star Holiday Inn London Heathrow M4J4 hotel. With a career in hospitality spanning three decades, Paul is a seasoned hotelier with exceptional experience at leading independent and branded hotels across the UK. Joining at a pivotal time for the hotel, Paul’s first role has been to relaunch the hotel’s restaurant and bar, the new T6 Bar & Restaurant concept, which officially relaunched at the beginning of September.
Former England number eight and Harlequins captain Nick Easter is to be the guest speaker at the HOSPACE2017 Gala Awards Dinner on 2 November at the Royal Lancaster London, W2 2TY.
Andrew Ross, who has more than 15 years’ experience in the hotel industry, has taken up the post at the helm of the 14-strong team.
Adnams has appointed a new general manager for the Swan Hotel in Southwold, which is due to reopen in October following a £6m refurbishment.Lyndon Barrett-Scott has previously been involved in the launch of several high-end establishments including the Covent Garden Hotel, Seaham Hall Hotel in Durham and the King Street Townhouse in Manchester.The Swan Hotel is due to re-open on October 13, with bookings now being accepted. The new décor has been developed by interior design firm Project Orange to combine modern luxury with the history of Southwold, Adnams and the hotel building.
pentahotels, the neighbourhood lifestyle hotel group, has promoted Nicola Crowley to Regional General Manager, Warrington and Derby to assist in the brand's UK expansion. Nicola brings with her extensive management experience, having previously worked as a General Manager for Holiday Inn and InterContinental Hotels. Her promotion comes as a reward for her excellent performance as General Manager of pentahotel Warrington.
Beccy Gunn has been appointed general manager at Bespoke Hotels’ White Horse hotel in Dorking, Surrey, ahead of a scheduled re-launch in November.
Record RevPAR levels helped hotels in the UK to maintain their strong period of top and bottom line growth in 2017, as the 4.4% year-on-year increase for the month fuelled a 3.8% increase in GOPPAR, according to the latest worldwide poll of full-service hotels from HotStats.