The hotel will be operated under a franchise agreement with the London Town Hotels Group, who own the property. It is currently undergoing an extensive renovation and will re-open under its new Mercure branding in autumn this year.
Jonathan Sheard, who is in charge of Luxury, Upscale and Midscale Brands, Accor UK and Ireland said: “We are very happy to add another Mercure hotel to Accor’s expanding portfolio, especially since it represents the further growth of a successful franchise relationship with London Town Hotels. This deal is a clear reaffirmation that the Mercure brand can deliver great performance even in competitive markets like London.”
Managing director of London Town Hotels Group Koolesh Shah said: “We already have an existing partnership with Accor in two of our London properties and the one in Nottingham, and we find working with them has added value through distribution. We particularly like the Mercure brand, how boutique and opaque it is.”
Boutique hotel
When asked what is being changed at the hotel, Shah said: “It’s getting a total refurbishment and the bedrooms are being completely reworked, it’s not just a soft refurbishment. The hotel is being brought up to a boutique four star product which I believe will add further value to it.
“It was a four star hotel before but not a boutique hotel, and now we’re bringing in the touches that a majority of people take for granted, we really want to manage expectations. The hotel will have far more technology in the rooms, it will be fully air conditioned, our food and beverage offering will be more in-keeping with a boutique hotel and the whole look and feel will have changed. The rooms will be very comfortable and quiet as well.”
London Town Hotels Group
The London Town Hotels Group is keen to expand its four star offering in ‘key city centre destinations’, and alongside the renovations it is doing on the Mercure London Hyde Park it is looking to acquire more hotels.
“We have one or two opportunities we’re looking at in London and several outside,” said Shah. “We recently bought a property in Derby so Midlands is an area we’re covering. The other opportunities are in locations where we believe we can add value; we tend to look more at city centre hotels. We’d like to target owning between 12 and 15 hotels over the course of the next three to five years.
“Branding is something we have found has added value to us and we will continue to work with brands. Accor have got a good range of brands so should the opportunity arise that the right brand is an Accor one certainly we’ll go down that road again.”