BUSINESS EVENTS SCOTLAND’S FINEST VENUES New kids on the block
Hotel openings are shaping Scotland’s conference landscape
BY FIONA LAING T
he success of a business event is only ever thanks to a combination of factors working together in har- mony. Whether it is a small
board meeting or an international convention, the keystone is the venue and its supporters, the places where the people sleep and relax. Scotland seems to be in the midst
of a hotel boom and there are many new openings – particularly in Edin- burgh and Glasgow. What coronavi- rus or the impact of Brexit will hold no-one knows and, alongside the openings, there are hotels closing, so the outlook is not without its clouds. Over the years, we have seen
major venues added to the Scottish meetings landscape. Last year, the big opening was the £333m Event Com- plex Aberdeen (TECA) and, like the large developments before it, hotels have come in its wake. Some come with conference facilities built in. Hotel beds cannot be seen only
in terms of conference nights when Scotland is such a popular destina- tion for leisure travellers. However, the value of a business tourist has been calculated by VisitBritain to be worth twice that of a leisure visitor, so making delegates comfortable while they stay here makes sense. Whatever the driver, the amount of
money being put into the country’s hotel stock is staggering. Knight Frank’s UK Hotel Capital Markets Investment Review found that there was about £260m spent in hotel deals last year in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Inverness, with Glasgow the third most active city in the UK outside London. Beyond the main cities, the sale of the Fairmont St Andrews was the year’s biggest deal. On top of those sales, there are numerous hotels being built, refurbished or extended with the total spend adding up to a sizeable investment in Scottish real estate. Business events will also benefit
The funky Yotel on Edinburgh’s Queen Street is among the hotel
stock adding flare and interest to Scotland’s business events market
from improved infrastructure. In the Central Belt, the investment in transport is beginning to show – the Queensferry Crossing and Edin- burgh’s Trams have settled in and ScotRail’s new trains are making an impression, particularly on the Edinburgh-Glasgow service. Te long-awaited revamp of Queen Street station is not far off. It all helps to bring everywhere closer together.
IN EDINBURGH, all eyes are on the £1bn replacement for the St James Centre. Marked by its tower- ing cranes, it is one of the largest regeneration projects in the UK. Due to open this autumn, the centre will have the glamorous 214-room W hotel at its heart. Alongside a stellar line-up of retail and leisure brands, there will also be Roomzzz Apartho-
tel offering guests 75 stylish apart- ments for bookings of up to a year. Tere are other hotels in the
pipeline including a 136-bed Pre- mier Inn in the former BHS store on Princes Street, 100 Princess Street by the Red Carnation Hotel Collec- tion in the transformed Royal Over- Seas League and an Edinburgh sis- ter for Perthshire’s Gleneagles Hotel is booked into St Andrew Square. Te first Nyx Hotel in Scotland is set to be in Jeffrey Street, where the Fattal group already operates Jurys Inn. Te £32m hotel will have 131 bedrooms and create 80 jobs. Recently opened hotels include
the 72-bedroom Malmaison St Andrews Square in one of the New Town’s stunning Georgian build- ings, while the funky Yotel on Queen Street with its Imaginex, a
360-degree 200-capacity screen- ing room, replaces a 1960s office building. At Edinburgh Airport, the Moxy Hotel opened a year ago with 230 rooms and at Edinburgh Park a 70-bedroom Travelodge is now in business. Meanwhile, the New Waverley development, has added a 146-room Adagio aparthotel, 127- room Premier Inn and 121-room Hub by Premier Inn to the Old Town’s accommodation. On the further horizon is the key
Haymarket site where construction work resumed last month after sev- eral years as the city centre’s biggest gap site. Te £300m development includes a 190-bed hotel and 163- key apart-hotel, as well as office and retail space. Meanwhile, in the north of the city the Granton Mari- ner project includes a 187-room
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