Venue Updata - October

Hilton Birmingham Metropole showcased its new facilities to the meetings and events market following its multi-million-pound refurbishment programme.

The refurbishment saw updates to the hotel’s 6,000 sqm of meetings and events facilities, the introduction of three new restaurant and bar concepts and the remodelling of more than 600 bedrooms.

“Our clients have played a vital role by guiding our choices and influencing the design of our spaces, and we’re extremely excited to now share our beautiful new surroundings with them all,” said Hilton Birmingham Metropole general manager, Nicola Underhill.  

Opened in September 2021 at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the central London event and conference venue has gone from strength to strength.

Hosting events, conferences and meetings, as well as private celebrations and weddings, the venue has seen a boost in bookings since opening, with 75 per cent of bookings being for full-day conferences and drink receptions. Across its spaces, the Searcys team hosted 304 events with more than 7,610 attendees, served 49,200 cups of coffee and poured 3,150 glasses of champagne.  

Spaces & Stories, Broadwick’s global full-service event space provider and platform has added Manchester’s New Century to its growing collection of venues and locations.

In the 1980s, New Century was adopted by the Madchester scene, fostering homegrown talents such as The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays and playing host to Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones. The venue will reopen as a live music venue and arts space. The project, which has cost £10 million, will be spread over three floors and is set to retain many of the Grade II-listed building’s original features.

Combining an  800-plus live events venue with 10,000 square feet of independent food kitchens, a central bar and a college for sound and digital technologies, New Century offers an experience like no other.

The £7.5 million project for Stationers’ Hall was in the planning for five years and has had the approval of Historic England. The works started in November 2020 and the Hall reopened in April 2022.

This project has been called ‘Vision 350’ because 2023 marks the 350th anniversary of the rebuilding of Stationers’ Hall after the Great Fire of London.

Prior to its redevelopment, the Hall had 99 rooms over 18 different floor levels, with no lift. There was one reception entrance, and the Court Room could only be accessed through the Great Hall, with only one event able to take place at any one time.

The venue is now accessible with thanks to a new corridor that links the two reception areas underneath the Hall and a platform lift in the corridor enables step-free access between both receptions.

There are also a new suite of meeting rooms on the third floor with the ability to use the transformable space as either a larger conference area or three smaller rooms.

Part of Native Collection's group of apartment-hotels, Native Bankside was once a Victorian tea warehouse and retains much of its rustic charm from the exposed brick to the arched factory windows.

Each room category is fitted with a kitchenette, including a fridge, oven, electric hob and sink. The comfortable and contemporary rooms are quiet as they are tucked away from the main thoroughfares but only a short stroll from the River Thames and a 10-minute walk from Borough Market.

Native Bankside is the only aparthotel in the UK with an ‘excellent’ BREEAM certification to show its sustainable practices.

Nordic Hotels & Resorts has announced the grand opening of its newest luxury hotel, Sommerro, located in the heart of Frogner in Oslo’s West End.

The 231-room Art Deco hotel is complete with 56 branded residences, seven restaurants and bars, meeting and event spaces with a capacity for up to 150 people, a 100-seat gilded theatre, a landmark wellness space with a fully-equipped gym, and the city’s first year-round rooftop pool, sauna, and terrace.

With an area totalling 103,012 sqm, Jio World Convention Centre is ideal for exhibitions, conventions, meetings and social events. The flexible venues are equipped to simultaneously host physical, virtual and hybrid events.

The Jio World Convention Centre highlights:

• Three exhibtion halls spanning 15,000 sqm, accommodating over 16,500 guests.
• Two convention halls totalling 10,000 sqm accommodating over 10,640 guests.
• A majestic 3,000 sqm ballroom, accommodating more than 3,200 guests.
• 25 meeting rooms with a total area of 2,700 sqm.
• Total area of 13,000 sqm of pre-function concourse across all the levels.
• Hybrid and digital experiences enabled by 5G network.
• Largest kitchen capacity with the ability to cater to over 18,000 meals a day.
• India's largest on-site parking in a convention centre with a capacity of 5,000 cars.

Southern California’s Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina has ushered in a new era of bleisure travel as it unveils the next phase of a property-wide multimillion-dollar reinvention encompassing rooms, suites and the M Club Lounge.

Taking inspiration from surroundings is a hallmark of this waterfront property as showcased by its two towers modelled to resemble sails flying above boats in the marina; and the designers upheld this theme by blending beachy hues and organic textures with clean lines and dark metal accents.

Kempinski acknowledges that the travel industry must accelerate efforts to mitigate its contribution to climate change and has therefore published its first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report 2021.

Allowing time to reflect on what makes Kempinski sustainable, what successes have been achieved and where opportunity remains to innovate and improve, has enabled Kempinski to consider, take action and publish this ESG report. Delivering a roadmap that sets out how the company will approach each of the three pillars of ESG with a fully unified approach across the group. Kempinski has been working with professional consultancies and third-party providers on sustainable initiatives for many years but has long sought a more robust and unified approach to ESG across the organisation.

Set to open in early 2023, the Cheval Maison property in Dubai marks the group’s first hotel outside of the UK.

Cheval Maison – The Palm Dubai, will be located at New Golden Mile 3 on the Palm Jumeirah and is set to be the brand’s third property, as well as the first to open outside the UK.

The Palm Dubai will offer 131 apartments split into 100 one-bedroom apartments, 20 two-bedroom apartments, 10 three-bedroom apartments and one three-bedroom penthouse.

Guests will be able to enjoy a range of facilities, including the ground floor lobby lounge, serving food and beverages throughout the day, a gymnasium and rooftop pool with a bar and terrace area.