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HOTEL NEWS
Premier Inn
announced
as tenants at
Manchester
development
Whitbread has agreed a pre-let
agreement with Ask Retail Estate,
the Richardson Family and Patrizia to
operate a 200-room Premier Inn at the
First Street Development in Manchester.
The hotel operator will occupy the
top five floors of a the 16 storey mixed-
use development which secured
planning permission in December
2018. Construction of the new building
will start in summer 2019 with
completion due in early 2021.
The deal will simultaneously see
a second joint venture partnership
between Ask Real Estate, the Richardson
family and Whitbread bring forward a
planning application to redevelop the
existing Premier Inn Deansgate Locks
hotel site, adjacent to First Street, with
a separate c.480,000 sq ft mixed-use
scheme. A planning application for the
development is expected to be submitted
to Manchester City Council in May 2019.
John Hughes, managing director of
Ask Real Estate, said: “With a projected
lack of Grade A office space in the city
from 2021 we will be bringing forward
much needed, high-quality and flexible
office space to a buoyant market and
are delighted to announce Premier Inn
as the building’s first tenant.”
STAT OF
THE MONTH
500,000
That’s the number of hotel
workers Marriott International
has trained to spot the signs of
human trafficking in its hotels
and how to respond if they do
March 2019
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PEOPLE MOVES
New GM to lead
Leonardo Hotels
Southampton
Jurys Inn and Leonardo Hotels UK and
Ireland has appointed Barry Watson as
general manager at the Leonardo Royal
Hotel Southampton Grand Harbour.
Watson joins the newly opened
Leonardo Royal property, formerly
known as The Grand Harbour Hotel,
with a “wealth” of hotel experience
spanning over 25 years. He most
recently held the position of GM at
The Ivy in the Lanes, Brighton, before
taking his post in Southampton in
January 2019.
According to the hotel brand,
Watson’s experience has a “strong
focus on food and beverage”, having
previously held senior management
positions with both branded and
independent hotels including Swire
Hotels, The Big Sleep Hotels and
Queens Moat House Hotels before
being recruited by The Ivy Collection to
open its new Brighton brasserie.
A statement by the group read: “As
general manager at Leonardo Royal
Hotel Southampton Grand Harbour,
Barry will build on the hotels success
with business and leisure guests
as well as locals and will focus on
improving the product and service
offering while retaining the timeless
character and ambiance of the classic
waterfront property. “His excellent eye
for detail, keen managerial skills and
strategic prowess will prove incredibly
valuable as the newest Leonardo
Hotels property continues to grow its
profile in Southampton and beyond.”
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The CMA expects all online
accommodation booking platforms
to comply with consumer
protection law .
The CMA
REGULATION
CMA outlines
changes imposed
on online hotel
booking sites
The Competition and Markets
Authority (CMA) has outlined what
accommodation booking companies
need to do to ensure that they comply
with consumer law.
It comes after the watchdog identified
“serious concerns” about commonly
used practices in the sector. Expedia,
Booking.com, Agoda, Hotels.com,
ebookers and trivago have recently been
the subject of CMA enforcement action
due to serious concerns around issues
like pressure selling, misleading discount
claims, the effect that commission has
on how hotels are ordered on sites, and
hidden charges.
The CMA said it is “committed to
ensuring compliance with consumer
protection law across the online hotel
booking sector” and to “help deliver”
compliance and as such has drawn out
“key principles” to be followed.
The CMA said if online hotel booking
sites diligently apply these principles,
those businesses will be less likely to
breach consumer protection law in
particular the Consumer Protection
from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
The principles cover the following
areas:
Practice 1 - Failure to disclose the effect
of payments on search results
Practice 2 - Misleading reference prices
Practice 3 - Misleading presentation of
prices
Practice 4 - statements about
popularity and availability and price.
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