Two ex-Swallow hotels to fly Renaissance flag

Whitbread Hotel Company is to re-badge two former Swallow hotels as Renaissance this summer. The Swallow St John's hotel in Solihull, Birmingham, will become the Renaissance Solihull Hotel on 15 August after a £1m refurbishment of its 179 bedrooms. The 158-bedroom Swallow hotel at South Normanton, Derbyshire, will change its name to the Renaissance Derby/Nottingham on 17 August. The hotel has just finished a £1.5m refurbishment of its main function suite, bedrooms, and conference rooms. They will become the first Renaissance hotels owned and operated by Whitbread Hotel Company under an agreement with US-based Marriott International. Marriott International directly operates a further five Renaissance hotels in the UK. Three further Swallow hotels at Manchester airport, Rotherham, and Sheffield are to become Marriott hotels (operated by Whitbread) on 18 June, 9 July and 13 August respectively. Whitbread bought 38 Swallow hotels for £600m in January 2000, of which 12 have been sold and 17 have already been converted. Of the four Swallow hotels that remain, Edinburgh is scheduled to become a Marriott in mid-2002. The London Swallow hotel in London is housed in two buildings on opposite sides of Cromwell road. One will become a Travel Inn and the other a Marriott in late 2002. Whitbread has not decided whether to sell or convert its hotels in Old Harlow, Essex, and Norwich.