Hotel Competition Comes To The City Of London
<B> Hotel Competition Comes To The City Of London</B>
By Amon Cohen
London boasts some of the world's most famous hotels, yet it has suffered from one curious deficiency as far as corporate travel managers are concerned: an almost total absence of accommodation near the City of London financial district.
That oversight now has been corrected with a vengeance. In the past year, four hotels have opened just outside the Square Mile, as the City is known. Another three will open inside the heart of the district by the end of next year and several more are on the drawing board.
This time last year, the number of hotels in or around the area could be counted on one hand: the Barbican Hotel, the Orion Barbican and The Thistle Tower near the Tower Bridge.
The news of the new inventory received an enthusiastic thumbs-up from Jennifer Eade, McLean, Va.-based director of travel management for management consultancy Booz, Allen & Hamilton. Its London offices are next door to the Savoy Hotel, where many employees stay when in the U.K. capital. But a significant number come to London to service clients in the City. "Our people are dyed-in-the-wool workaholics who prefer to stay nearer their clients, so this will be very helpful," Eade said.
But Unilever business services manager Ian Hall, whose office is in the City, is less convinced that travelers will want to forsake the excitement of the West End and Kensington, where most business hotels are found.
"I have mixed feelings on this," said Hall, who is the new chairman of the U.K.'s Institute of Travel Management. "To have accommodation on the doorstep will reduce traveling time and costs, but many travelers like the bright lights of the West End, whereas the City more or less shuts down at night. Some will love the idea, and others will think that there is nothing worse and that they want to be near Harrods."
From the corporation's point of view, though, Hall noted, "the more the better, because the greater the supply, the lower the cost. I should think we will be using the new hotels, though it depends on the cost and the standards of service."
In spite of the lack of nocturnal excitement, Pannell Kerr Forster director of hotel, leisure and tourism services Melvin Gold said corporate demand is one of the main reasons for the accommodation boom in the district. "There's no question that there is a demand, particularly in the midweek period," he said. "People work and are happy to be staying near their office. Working a 9-to-5 day and then going off to a show in the evening doesn't really exist any more."
Central London to the east of Tottenham Court Road also is no longer the entertainment wasteland it once was, and the Clerkenwell district, immediately to the north, is the hippest area in London. While it does not have mainstream theater, it does have a wealth of top-quality bars and restaurants.
Evening entertainment options also are widening around Tower Hill, where Accor is building a Novotel. "We have been talking to corporate clients and there is a tremendous pent-up demand for accommodation in the City," said Accor's U.K. managing director Michael Flaxman. "It's corporations rather than employees which are making policy and travel decisions, and they want to know their travelers will be near their workplace rather than the theaters."
Still, Flaxman is not considering leasing rooms on a permanent basis to top corporate clients. "I don't believe that will give us our highest yield. We are very close to the Tower of London, so that should give us strong tourist demand as well," he said.
The reappearance of hotel construction in the City is due to a number of reasons, including more flexibility from planning authorities and, for the first time in years, a softening in supply of office space. Many companies have moved down the river Thames to the Docklands development area, especially Canary Wharf. This area in turn is being furnished with a 139-room Four Seasons, including a 200-capacity ballroom, scheduled to open at the end of this year, and a 314-room Forte Posthouse expected to open in Spring 2000.
The four new hotels around the City are in an assortment of sizes and styles. The only one that is part of a branded chain is the largest Holiday Inn Express in Europe at Old Street. The City Hotel, adjacent to the Aldgate East Underground station, offers both rooms and, for extended-stay visitors, self-catering suites.
For those who prefer more intimate properties, the Rookery Hotel has opened near the famous Smithfield Market. A highly impressive conversion of a row of Georgian houses, the hotel took three years to complete, while its owners reinstated period features including the bathrooms, which feature cast iron fittings and copper pipework. Across the river, meanwhile, the London Bridge Hotel, opposite the mainline station, provides a choice of smoking or no-smoking rooms and an executive top floor with a rooftop view of London.
The biggest splash is yet to come, however. Celebrated British designer Terence Conran, in association with Patriot American Hospitality, is spending £50 million (about $80 million) restoring the 19th-century Great Eastern Hotel in the heart of the City at Liverpool Street. It will reopen this autumn with 266 bedrooms and six bars and restaurants.
In addition, Crowne Plaza is building a 203-room property in New Bridge Street. Like the 205-room Novotel, completion is expected in the second half of 2000. There even are plans for a small hotel in Threadneedle Street, home to the Bank of England.