THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE I 39
Adagio makes UK debut THE REVIEW ›› THE ROOM REPORT
THE Accor hotel group’s serviced apartment brand Adagio has moved into the UK market with the opening of a property in Liverpool. There are already 90 of the aparthotel properties across major European cities – including Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Munich, Paris and Rome – and the UK has been singled out as a key growth market together with France and Germany. “We are pleased to welcome
our extended stay brand, Adagio, in the UK,” says Thomas Dubaere, managing director of Accor UK & Ireland. “Adagio is the third Accor brand to launch in Britain in the last two years, following closely from MGallery and Pullman, and marks another step in Accor UK’s growth plan. Liverpool is an ideal location for the unique proposition that Adagio offers and we look forward to seeing the success of this aparthotel concept in the UK.” Adagio, which is a joint venture
between Accor and Pierre & Vacances, makes its UK debut in Liverpool’s iconic Lewis building in the heart of the city. Its 126 studio and one-bedroom units all
SLOANE CLUB APARTMENTS
THE Apartments by The Sloane Club have opened in London, claiming to offer the services of an exclusive hotel with the space and privacy of a luxury residence. The 18 apartments are located on residential Sloane Gardens in one of the capital's most coveted eighbourhoods. The interiors mix Art Deco style with a classic touch and all are equipped with bone china tableware, Nespresso coffee machines, L’Occitane toiletries, goose down duvets and pillows, Egyptian cotton linen and wifi access. There's also a 24-hour concierge service, and meals can be ordered from The Sloane Club. Rates start from £220 per night (excluding VAT). A minimum seven-night stay is required.
IN BRIEF
have fully equipped kitchens, flatscreen TVs and free wifi. For stays of one to three nights,
rates start from £70 per night for studio apartments and £90 for one-bedroom units. The price drops to £57 per night for a studio apartment for stays of 90 nights or more. Vangelis Porikis, Aparthotels
Adagio director for Central & Northern Europe, says: “The Liverpool opening is particularly exciting as we open in the iconic grade II-listed Lewis Building
in the heart of the city. The continued development in the region provides an interesting demand for both corporate and leisure clients from the UK and around the world.” Accor plans to add a further 60
Adagio aparthotels in the next three years including Birmingham in 2014, plus potential locations in London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow. The upper-midscale Adagio brand is complemented by Adagio Access, an ‘economy range’ on city doorsteps.
MERCURE OPENS IN GREENWICH
• MARLIN Apartments will unveil its newly refurbished Canary Wharf serviced apartments in May following a million pound makeover. Its apartments at 9 Byng Street have been refurbished to a four-star standard, featuring high-spec kitchens, stylish furnishings, free wifi , widescreen TVs, DVD players and 24-hour concierge service. 9 Byng Street and its sister property at 11 are a fi ve-minute walk from South Quay DLR station and 15 minutes from the ExCel conference and exhibition centre. Marlin managing director, Susan Cully, says, “This year is all about investment. As we approach our tenth anniversary, our main objective is clear: obtain the largest industry-wide share of the corporate travel market not simply in Canary Wharf, but London altogether.”
• SERVICED residence owner-operator company, The Ascott Limited, is to offer free internet access to guests booking its accommodation at best available rates. The service will apply globally to all its 100-plus properties under the Ascott, Citadines and Somerset brands. Wifi will be rolled out to all its properties by the end of 2013 and is available in most now. Ascott’s COO, Tony Soh, said: “Connectivity is vital for our guests. Many of them carry at least one mobile device and use wifi , and this trend has been increasing every year. We will be progressively boosting bandwidth to meet the increasing data demand by our guests.”
THE four-star Mercure London Greenwich has opened its doors for business, hoping to woo guests visiting ExCel, the O2 and Greenwich, plus those arriving via London’s new cruise terminal opening next year. Contemporary bedrooms over
nine floors are augmented with two meeting rooms, a small viewing deck on the eighth floor,
a gym, restaurant and cosy lobby lounge. In guest rooms, a neutral colour scheme of pale greys, dark wood and lots of chrome offset the standard items of desk, tea and coffee-making equipment, free wifi, laptop-size safe, minibar and oversize bedheads. Rates start from £80 per night (+VAT) and larger Privilege rooms are from £110 (+VAT).
• HOTEL booking specialist HRS doubled its turnover from mobile sales in 2012 and says, at the current growth rate, one in every fi ve bookings will be made via a mobile device in 2014. The trend for increasing numbers of mobile bookings is widely reported across the travel industry, but HRS says the launch of its latest app last autumn, Hotels Now, is “the most successful launch of a last-minute app for business travel in Europe”. Over 500,000 iPhone users have already downloaded the app, which offers more than 2,000 hotels in over 100 European cities. Last minute deals are published daily from 6am and can only be booked via the app up to midnight on the same day. “Techno- logical development and increasing mobility will fundamentally change the travel industry,” says Jon West, managing director of HRS UK & Ireland.
54 THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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