Whitbread PLC, the UK's largest hotel group, is delighted to announce the launch of its new hotel concept, 'hub by Premier Inn'. The new concept will target major UK city centres such as London and Edinburgh, with the first 'hub by Premier Inn' to open on St. Martin's Lane in London in summer 2014.
Hotelier’s in London saw a second month of profit growth this year (+2.6%) mainly driven by room revenue increases of 2.6%, according to the latest HotStats survey of approximately 625 full-service hotels across the UK. In fact, the capital showed positive year-on-year results across all key performance indicators with total revenues per available room (TrevPar) rising 1.4% thanks to an increase in revenue per available room (RevPar) of £3.22.
London hotels had a solid month in May but continued to lag behind their regional counterparts, according to preliminary hotel figures released today by business advisory and accountancy firm, BDO LLP. London hotels posted a 0.9% year-on-year reduction in room rate to £136.27, compared with £137.45 12 months ago, and a 1.9% increase in occupancy from 83.6% to 85.2%.
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) continues to grow its presence in the UK with the signing of three new hotels – Holiday Inn Huntingdon - Racecourse in Cambridgeshire, Holiday Inn Glasgow Green in Scotland and Holiday Inn - Watford Junction in Hertfordshire.
Gehan brings a wealth of knowledge with more than 15 years’ experience of working in the hospitality sector. He joins the team at the hotel on Chapel Lane, following a successful career at Holiday Inn Edinburgh where he was crowned General Manager of the Year UK & Ireland in 2010, and Rising Star General Manager at the Scottish Hotel Awards in 2009. Gehan began his career as Operations Manager at the Carlton Hotel in Edinburgh. He has since worked for IHG for more than three years, managing Holiday Inn Hotels in Edinburgh and Gatwick. Craig Hooley, Area General Manager of the UK&I commented: “We are delighted to welcome Gehan into the Holiday Inn team. We’re very impressed by his experience and results during his career and cannot wait to see his plans unfold.”
Signature Living hotel finally opened their doors to the general public on Thursday with a grand launch of their spectacular new Movie themed hotel, based in the heart of the City of Liverpool on Stanley Street. The much anticipated hotel has been added to the portfolio of Lawrence and Katie Kenwright, who already have serviced apartment properties on Bold Street, Mathew Street and Victoria Street and they are ranked number 1 on TripAdvisor which just shows the level of Customer care their guests are shown. This hotel means that they now have over 300 beds in the city.
Hotels directly surrounding Wimbledon have raised their prices by an average of 70 per cent for the Tennis Championships, according to the trivago Hotel Price Index (tHPI) reported monthly by hotel comparison website www.trivago.co.uk. One night during the Championships (Monday 24th June to Sunday 7th July), will cost an average of £322 in the area directly surrounding Wimbledon. This is a 70 per cent increase from the preceding week, when one night will cost an average of £190. The most expensive day to book is Tuesday 25th June, when hotel prices are up by 190 per cent to an average of £550 for one night.
RevPAR for the London hotel market is forecast to decrease 7.4% in April 2014 from April of this year whereas the provinces is set to decrease 5.3%, according to the e-forecasting.com baseline forecast released in their inaugural London and the provinces Monthly Hotel Forecast reports using historical data from HotStats, the hospitality intelligence provider.
Hilton Worldwide announced in the last week the appointment of Paul Malcom as Head of Sales for Europe. After 30 years at Marriott International, Malcom will take over in June 2013 as the Head of Sales Development and Customer Service Platforms from Hilton Worldwide. Malcolm's entry conditions are favorable, with Hilton Worldwide being one of the world's fastest-growing hotel companies; one in five hotel rooms under construction in Europe will open as a brand of Hilton Worldwide. Malcolm will report directly to Mark Wang, President of Global Sales and Hilton Grand Vacations. As a member of the European Executive Committee, he will also work closely with Simon Vincent, President EMEA, Hilton Worldwide. Malcolm is headquartered in the European headquarters of Hilton Worldwide in Hertfordshire, UK.
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) will announce that the UK's hospitality and tourism industries will create over 30,000 new job opportunities for young people by 2015. The BHA will inform Mark Hoban MP, Minister of State for Employment of the pledge as it hosts its annual Summit at the InterContinental London Park Lane on Tuesday 11 June, 2013.
Dressed comfortably in jeans, white socks and slip-on shoes, Ian Schrager appears pretty low key. The king of New York’s most famous hotels and nightclub — he is the man behind legendary hangout Studio 54 and is often credited as the father of the boutique hotel — is now 66 and his relaxed manner could lead you to believe he is taking it easy after a lifetime of cutting-edge design and partying. But when the rasping and gravelly Brooklyn drawl begins to explain why he is back in London, it’s clear Schrager is still as driven to succeed as ever.
Two award-winning Montcalm Hotels in London have chosen Pegasus Solutions to grow international business through Pegasus Connect+ Premium. The Montcalm London, recently awarded a prestigious five-star rating by the Automobile Association (AA), and the Montcalm at the Brewery London City, will gain preferred access to an international community of hotel buyers under the "UI" chain code.
Interstate Hotels & Resorts, has appointed a new general manager to head up its latest city-based venue. Andrea Whigham has been appointed as general manager of Holiday Inn Express Birmingham Snow-Hill. A seasoned hotelier, Ms Whigham has 25 years experience in the hospitality industry and prior to joining Interstate, she spent 10 years as general manager of Holiday Inn Express Birmingham City Centre, where she led the hotel launch in 2002.
Agilysys, Inc. (Nasdaq: AGYS), a leading provider of innovative information technology and hospitality software solutions, today announced that the company received the 'Industry Supplier' award in the TheStadiumBusiness Awards competition. The prestigious award recognises consistent service and industry support provided by a product or service supplier. Award winners were announced last night at TheStadiumBusiness Summit 2013 in Manchester, UK.
Richard Solomons, chief executive of Intercontinental Hotels, is the Today programme's Friday boss. Speaking to the Today programme's business presenter Simon Jack, Mr Solomons explained that Intercontinental Hotels is the world's biggest hotelier, with more than 4,500 hotels, and almost 700,000 rooms. "We only own nine hotels", he said, explaining that it was largely the companies' business to run the hotels. "We have the ability to bring customers into hotels... pretty much anywhere in the world," he added.
Yann joins with a wealth of experience, having spent ten years with the Novotel Group, and a range of four star hotels including Whittlebury Hall, Brandon Hall, and the Beaumont House in Windsor.
Bjorn van der Horst has been appointed as Director of Food, Beverage and Kitchens at Rosewood London, which will open in October 2013.
The company underwent a two-way XML interface certification with RateTiger and Connect SaaS services to become part of the eRevMax Channel Ecosystem – this will provide HotelTravel.com direct connection to the leading hotel PMS and CRS thereby enhancing its product proposition to potential hotel clients.
Focus Hotels Management is a leading independent hotel management company in the UK, with associated companies in Ireland and Germany. The group's current portfolio consists of 26 hotels with 3,700 bedrooms, comprising both independent hotels and franchises.
UK-based value hospitality brand, Innkeeper's Lodge has selected RateTiger for maximizing revenue through effective rate forecasting and rate parity. Its lodges across the UK will use RateTiger Corp, an award-winning price shopping intelligence tool to monitor, control and optimise rates across online distribution channels.