HOTEL NEWS

NEW ROAD HOTEL opens its doors in London’s Whitechapel this month. Housed in a former textile factory, it has 80 “compact yet practical” rooms, communal areas on each floor, and a Marco Pierre White restaurant. PRINCIPAL has opened its fourth UK property and its second in Edinburgh, following the refurbishment and rebranding of the Roxburghe hotel. The 199-room Principal Edinburgh Charlotte Square is housed in a 19th-century Georgian building, and has seen an investment of £25 million. HILTON has opened a Hilton Garden Inn hotel at Manchester’s Old Trafford Cricket Ground. A five-minute walk from Old Trafford station, 85 of its 150 rooms look over the cricket pitch, and 80 of these have balconies. On match days, a number of rooms can be converted to hospitality boxes. The group has also unveiled a £15 million renovation of the Doubletree by Hilton Edinburgh Queensferry Crossing. A ten-minute drive from Edinburgh airport, the property has added 64 rooms, bringing the total to 141. IHG has opened the Intercontinental Ljubljana. Spread across 20 floors, the 165-room hotel has a Mediterranean restaurant headed up by Michelin-star chef Alfredo Russo, the top-floor terrace of which offers views of the Slovenian capital’s old town and castle. The group has also announced two Dubai hotels for 2019. The Crowne Plaza Dubai Business Bay will have 290 rooms, while Intercontinental Residence Suites Dubai Business Bay will house studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. WYNDHAM HOTEL GROUP has opened its largest Tryp property to date, in Dubai’s Barsha Heights. The 650-room Tryp by Wyndham Dubai has three food and drink venues, an outdoor pool, a gym and co-working space Nest. MARCO POLO HOTELS has opened the 252room Niccolo Chongqing. Located on the top ten floors of the 62-floor Chongqing IFS Tower 1, it has an all-day restaurant, a tea lounge and bar, plus a gym, spa and 20-metre pool. SHANGRI-LA HOTELS AND RESORTS is set to open the Shangri-La Colombo on November 16. Housed in the One Galle Face complex facing the Indian Ocean, it will have 500 rooms and suites, 41 serviced apartments, five restaurants and bars, a spa and 4,500 sqm of event space. HYATT is set to open an Andaz property in Singapore in December. The 342-room hotel will have four food and drink venues, including a rooftop bar on the 39th floor, plus an outdoor pool.