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 


© Steve Menary


© Jestico + Whiles 


 


than simply cashing-in on the world’s biggest sporting event. Owned by the Starwood Group, the Aloft brand of hip hotels


T


aims to deliver “urban-influenced, open and vibrant design and a social guest experience at an affordable price” and proposes to open 40 hotels by the end of 2011, from places as diverse as Abu Dhabi to Baltimore and Brussels to Beijing.


he 2012 Olympics will provide a massive short-term need for accommodation in east London, but the first UK hotel to be opened by Aloft has a longer-term plan


The first UK opening will be in London’s Docklands, sited


by the Prince Regent Station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and just 15 minutes from Waterloo mainline station. Even more crucially, the hotel is adjacent to the Excel Exhibition Centre, which has become one of the capital’s lead- ing conference venues. The Excel Centre is owned by the ADNEC (Abu Dhabi


National Exhibition Centres) and development of a four-star hotel to service the thousands of people that use the venue


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