Hilton Garden Inn set for Stoke-on-Trent
Plans for a Hilton Garden Inn at the Smithfield development in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, have been announced, following a franchise agreement between Hilton and Genr8.
The 140-bedroom hotel will be delivered and owned by Smithfield developer Genr8, working alongside the city council. Genr8 is expected to submit a planning application soon facilitating a start on site later in 2017, subject to approval, with the hotel expected to welcome its first guests in 2019.
Genr8 has appointed hotel management company Redefine BDL Hotels to operate the hotel on its behalf.
Cabinet members at the city council previously agreed to provide a £4.55m investment for the project. Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is also set to provide a £2.95m grant for the hotel development.
Dave Conway, city council leader, said: "Hilton is a name famous around the world and a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to make this development a reality. It will not only improve the hotel offer in the city which is vital if we are to be successful with our UK City of Culture bid, but help grow our tourism industry and further revamp the area with increased footfall."
Richard Ingham, partner at Genr8, said it was a "huge step forward" for the city and will provide "a significant boost" to the local business and leisure economy. Patrick Fitzgibbon, senior vice-president of development, EMEA, Hilton, said the hotel will "considerably enhance" accommodation in the city.
Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP chairman David Frost added: "This is excellent news for an ambitious city. Expanding and enhancing Stoke-on-Trent's hotel sector has been a long-term aspiration of the LEP and the city council and it is good to see such positive progress being made."
Hilton has also signed a franchise agreement with Abingdon Lodge Hotel, a subsidiary of Esher-based Coldunell, to open a 150-bedroom Hilton Garden Inn in Abingdon, Oxford, in 2018. The existing Oxford Abingdon Hotel will undergo a comprehensive redevelopment and a new four story extension. The extension will also include a new lounge bar, restaurant, function rooms and fitness centre. The existing hotel will remain open throughout the extension works, and current bedrooms will be fully renovated when the new wing is complete. Coldunell owns five hotels in the UK, with the conversion part of a wider plan to improve its current portfolio of hotels.
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