Meeting News - December 15, 2008 - (Page 22)

International Guoman Hotels, a brand launched last year with a small portfolio of hotels around London, has reintroduced the Royal Horseguards hotel, after a $30 million refurbishment. The historic 280-room property, bordering the Thames near Trafalgar Square, has been refreshed within its original Victorian architecture. Built in 1884 as private apartments, the rooms in the property now feature iPod docking stations, complimentary Wi-Fi, two flatpanel TVs, beds with Egyptianthread linens, and redone bathrooms with Elemis toiletries. Said to be on land where the kings of Scotland used to live while staying in London, the property became the Royal Horseguards in 1971. The Royal Horseguard’s six small meeting rooms have been refreshed, as well. The suites are multifunctional, able to accommodate different configurations and from 10 to 70 guests. Meanwhile, Whitehall Place next door, a former private club dating back to 1887, is now a conference facility and part of the property. Whitehall Place, accommodating 12 to 340 attendees, features the 2,200-sf Gladstone Library, which was once home to 30,000 books. It now holds 220 guests for dinner and is the largest of five event spaces. Adjacent to the library, the Reading & Writing Room, originally a billiards room, now holds 144 classroom-style and gives meeting-goers views across the Thames to the London Eye. The Royal Horseguards has one restaurant, whose name, One Twenty One Two, is inspired by London’s old emergency-services telephone number to Scotland Yard, which used to be a neighbor of the hotel. Like the Royal Horseguards, the other properties in the fledgling Guoman brand are longstanding London hotels that have been refreshed, including Charing Cross, with 239 rooms and nine meeting spaces, and the Cumberland, with 1,019 rooms and 26 meeting rooms. Meanwhile, not far away, Carlson’s Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts will raise its flag on a 1,021-room hotel with 27,000 sf of meeting By William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Guoman Retools, Relaunches London’s Royal Horseguards Hotel space in 2012, near Westminster Bridge. It is set to be a major meetings property in the Capital area. Its modernity a contrast to Guoman’s classic style, the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London will be able to host from eight for a boardroom meeting to 1,250 for a cocktail reception—the latter with what Park Plaza intends to be one of the Capital’s largest ballrooms. “We expect the hotel will be a major draw for events of all sizes,” said GM Andrew Swindells. In addition to 30 flexible meeting rooms, the 15-story, glassenclosed property will have penthouse suites available for small meetings. Attendees will be able to dine at a signature restaurant and enjoy a lounge bar and a large spa. Four Seasons Debuts in Macau But cash-strapped Sands puts a stop on Cotai Strip work Macau, where hospitality development has been progressing at a breakneck pace, has another new luxury hotel: a 360-room Four Seasons with 27,500 sf of meeting space, steps from the Cotai Strip Convention & Exhibition Centre. The hotel, however, will be the last one to appear for a while on the Cotai Strip, the “Las Vegas of the East” brainchild of gaming magnate Sheldon Adelson. The Four Seasons Macao, Cotai Strip was developed by Venetian Cotai Ltd., a subsidiary of Adelson’s now-struggling Las Vegas Sands Corp., which has put development of the Cotai Strip on hold. Sands’ massive Venetian Macao Resort Hotel has headlined the Cotai Strip since coming on last year, and eight hotels were in development before the company announced last month that it was suspending construction because it was having trouble raising funds and close to defaulting on loans. Starwood was scheduled to run the world’s largest Sheraton (3,985 rooms), as well as a St. Regis (460), in 2009, while Hilton was slated to run Hilton (1,200) and Conrad (300) properties. Fairmont was set to manage both Fairmont and Raffles hotels totaling 1,500 rooms in 2010. And Shangri-La was to man- age a 636-room Shangri-La and a 1,259-room Traders hotel in 2009. Meanwhile, another megaresort, Macao Studio City, reportedly has delayed construction due to the credit crunch. Marriott had agreed to manage Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels there in 2009, while Starwood was slated to open a W Hotel at the complex in fall 2011. While the dust settles, the Four Seasons Macao, Cotai Strip will seek out meetings, as well as convention groups. It has two ballrooms, a boardroom, and three meeting rooms. Among the bevy of amenities for incentives is a 20,000-sf spa with 14 rooms. Boston the Gateway for Airlift Additions To Caribbean from JetBlue, US Airways Logan International Airport will add flights to St. Maarten and Turks and Caicos, from JetBlue and US Airways, respectively. Both airlines will start weekend routes. Beginning on Feb. 14, JetBlue will fly once each Saturday and Sunday to Princess Juliana International Airport, with a 7:50 morning flight. The outbound from St. Maarten will be at 2 p.m. US Airways will begin twiceweekly flights to Providenciales starting Jan. 10. r 22 MeetingNews December 15, 2008 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - December 15, 2008

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