BUSINESS EVENTS SCOTLAND’S FINEST VENUES
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Hyatt Regency spa and conference hotel which finally won planning approval last year. By 2019, event organisers already
had access to more than 20,000 beds across the capital. With all the recent openings, there has been widespread discussion about whether there is an over-supply of beds. A report from the Edinburgh City Council in January 2019 esti- mated there were 61 new hotels in the construction pipeline, repre- senting 6,338 rooms. Edinburgh Hotels Association
spokesman Russell Imrie told Te Scotsman in February that the city had lost its crown for the highest room rates in the UK outside Lon- don and that overall financial perfor- mance of the sector had slumped by 2.4 per cent in the space of a year. He added: “Tere is no doubt at all that the increase in hotel supply over recent years is now having a nega- tive impact on hotel performance, especially in the low season.” Another talking point – nation-
wide – has been the potential impact of a “bed tax” or transient visitor levy which the Scottish Gov-
ernment has consulted on. It still needs to be passed into law so there is no timescale for its introduction. In the west, talk is of COP 26 in
November and what that is going to mean for Glasgow. Te city has the experience of the Commonwealth Games to call on but it is still a unprecedented event to host. In the meantime, the sector is
anticipating the extra rooms in the neighbourhood of one of the city’s event hotspots as two hotels take shape next to the SSE Hydro. Te 221-room Courtyard by Marriott and the 213-room Moxy Hotel are due to open in the coming months. With the recent opening of the 174-bedroom Radisson Red and its panoramic Sky Bar, it’s good news for the busy Scottish Event Campus (SEC), which generates in the region of £400m each year for the city’s economy.
OPENING SOON, tech-driven Yotel will bring 254 “cabins” to a former office building opposite Central Station, while the St Enoch Square Premier Inn will add 249-bed- rooms and create 200 jobs. Tose openings account for many of the
1,900 rooms that last summer were estimated to be in the pipeline for opening by 2021. It’s all part of a busy picture for
the city with more conference busi- ness attracted in 2018/19 than ever before. Glasgow Convention Bureau data shows that more than 530 con- ferences brought in nearly 160,000 delegates. At the same time the SEC reported a 55 per cent growth in conference turnover. Always a city with developments
underway, the work at George Square – including the Queen Street station transformation – is hard to miss. A £100m mixed-use project, it includes a 245-bed AC by Marriott hotel. Looking further ahead, the
Trongate is also set for a trans- formation and the plan approved includes a luxury 157-bed 12-storey hotel; meanwhile an office build- ing on St Vincent Street is to be converted into Scotland’s first Meliá Innside hotel. Te project includes 149 bedrooms and conference facili- ties. Plans have been submitted to the council for the former Glasgow Garden Festival site where a £18m Holiday Inn is on the cards.
In Aberdeen, the impact of TECA
– or P&J Live – opening last year is only now being assessed as its diary fills up. With a raft of new hotels in the area, time will tell if the balance is right as the North Sea downturn plays through. Certainly P&J Live has transformed the North-east’s cultural offering with plenty of famous names – including Elton John – booked in. Te reopening of Cameron House
Hotel is one of the most eagerly anticipated events outside the cities. Following its restoration after a fire in 2017, the luxury hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond reopens later this year and is now taking bookings for functions from January 2021. Te reinstated hotel will have eight flex- ible function and event spaces with state-of-the-art facilities. A further expansion – including a ballroom – is due in the summer of 2021 In Fife, the Old Course Hotel, Golf
Resort & Spa in St Andrews is in the midst of alterations and extensions which are expected to be completed early next year. As well as extra bedrooms, conference facilities are being expanded. n
Perfect for your meetings, dinners and celebrations. One Space is now open.
The perfect venue for conferences, meetings,
private dinners and social events.
X T 24 | EVENTSBASE | SPRING 2020
We look forward to welcoming you.
he video and web confer- encing market is in a period of incredible growth, and according to recent research, is forecast to grow
by around 40 per cent by 2023. One of the biggest players, Zoom,
delivered 45 billion meeting min- utes in 2018 (compared to 20bn the previous year); with these figures making it easy to think we’re shift- ing away from face-to-face interac- tions in our working lives.
RSE.ORG.UK/VENUE ROOMS@THERSE.ORG.UK
Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa Edinburgh 1 Festival Square, Edinburgh EH3 9SR T 0131 229 9131 E
Sales.SheratonGrand@
Sheraton.com W
sheratonedinburgh.co.uk
But one of Scotland’s leading
conference and events hotels, the independently-branded Dalmahoy Hotel & Coun
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