In the know
Baglioni arrives in London
Italian hotel firm Baglioni has just opened its first London property, the 66-bedroom Baglioni hotel in Hyde Park Gate, Kensington.
According to Baglioni, the property, which has a 68-seat restaurant and a spa, is "a charming mix of light and space… elegance and atmosphere", with bedrooms that merge Italian style with "a warm, contemporary feel".
www.baglionihotellondon.com
Crowne Plaza City
Last month saw the opening of InterContinental Hotels and Resorts' latest London property, the Crowne Plaza City.
The 203-bedroom hotel, near Blackfriars Bridge, is housed in an early 20th-century listed building and is intended to set a new design standard for future Crowne Plazas.
Interior designers GA Design International said the hotel's "simple but strong and harmonious" design offered "a calming environment for busy city workers".
Corus overhauls London flagship
Corus Hotels is halfway through a £4m refurbishment of its central London flagship, the 401-bedroom Corus Hotel Hyde Park, formerly the Plaza on Hyde Park.
The latest project, which includes a complete refurbishment of 209 of the 401 bedrooms, the hotel's meeting rooms and the Hydes Restaurant in a "bright, contemporary" style began last November and is due to end in July.
A spokesman for Corus, which has spent a total of £11m on improvements to the building since buying it in 1997, said the new look was "quite minimalist" and marked something of a departure for the firm.
www.corushotels.com
Holland House hotel to open in Cardiff
Macdonald Hotels is set to open its Holland House hotel in Cardiff next month, following a £21m redevelopment of the former office block.
The 165-bedroom hotel, which is bidding for four-AA-red-star status, has oversized rooms, a spa and the largest hotel conference facilities in the city.
The decor, by interior designer Janine Hames, focuses on natural, earthy tones, with extensive use of cherrywood, leather and suede.
www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk
Guesthouse West
Guesthouse West opened its doors earlier this month, offering "a small but perfectly formed chic B&B" on Westbourne Grove in London's Notting Hill.
The hotel design is simple, with clean lines, and the owners say the bedrooms are "elegant, understated and functional", with wireless internet access, flat screen TVs, DVD, air conditioning, and broadband access.
www.guesthousewest.com
Regency Park hotel gets overhaul The four-star Regency Park hotel in Thatcham, Berkshire, has undergone a five-year, £8m redevelopment programme, adding 64 bedrooms.
The property, set in five acres of grounds, now has 109 bedrooms and business facilities for 400 delegates.
Neil Muir, group operations manager of Pedersen Group, the hotel's owners, said the design by Charles Leon Associates was very simple, contemporary and practical, with lots of clean lines.
Pedersen now aims to use the design as a template for three of the four properties it bought from Queens Moat Houses in January.
www.regencyparkhotel.co.uk
Restaurateurs take Zetter to Clerkenwell
This month sees the opening of the Zetter, the latest addition to the expanding hotel scene in theup-and-coming Clerkenwell area of London.
Housed in a converted Victorian warehouse, the 59-bedroom property is the first hotel project from restaurateurs Mark Sainsbury and Michael Benyan.
The hotel is a mix of the old and the new, with interior designers Precious McBane making use of many of the building's original features and introducing a bright mix of old and new designer furniture against a muted colour scheme.
The hotel has impressive green credentials, with architects Chetwood Associates making extensive use of sustainable approaches and green building materials in the refurbishment of the property.
www.thezetter.com
Bovey Castle
Bovey Castle, the latest offering from entrepreneur Peter de Savary, is to reopen next month following a £12m, art deco-style overhaul.
The hotel, in North Bovey, Devon, has 65 individually designed bedrooms. Key features include the Cathedral Room, with its vaulted ceiling and minstrel's gallery, and the art deco dining room, with its chinoiserie hand-painted wall coverings.
The design concept, based on a 1930s house party, is being overseen by Kathleen Fraser, who has worked with de Savary for more than 20 years.
www.boveycastle.com
| In briefFour-star plan at Feversham Owner Simon Rhatigan is spending £230,000 in a bid to turn the Feversham Arms in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, from a three-star to a four-star property and make it a "couples' retreat". Rhatigan said he expected the project to be completed by mid-April, with the 17 bedrooms being totally refurbished in a "country chic" style. Royal Clarence Top chef Michael Caines and entrepreneur Andrew Brownsword are to spend more than £1m transforming the Grade II-listed Royal Clarence hotel in Exeter into a boutique hotel later this year. The duo bought the three-star, 56-bedroom hotel for more that £4.5m last year. www.michaelcaines.com](http://www.michaelcaines.com) Manor of Groves hotel Manor of Groves hotel, golf and country club in High Wych, Hertfordshire, has received a £7.5m refurbishment, increasing the number of bedrooms from 23 to 80 and adding a 120-seat conference hall. The Georgian manor house hotel now has a 3,000sq ft health, beauty and fitness centre, which is linked to the main building by a glass atrium that houses a brasserie, lounge and bar area. [www.manorofgroves.comCumberland hotel The doors of the Cumberland hotel at London's Marble Arch remain firmly closed as the massive £90m refurbishment programme of the property continues. The hotel, which has been closed since last October, will be relaunched in the summer as a contemporary "four-star de luxe hotel" with 1,020 redesigned guestrooms. The project is being overseen by British design practice Real Studios. |
