Archive for the ‘Hotels’ Category

Liverpool opens its first ‘budget boutique’ pod hotel

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Liverpool’s first “pod” hotel has officially opened its doors.

Cocoon, in South Hunter Street, is the city’s first offering in “budget boutique” accommodation.

The conceptual idea behind the hotel is to envelop each guest in comfort and style in internal cabin rooms, without breaking the bank.

Rooms offer kingsize beds with American walnut wood oversized headboards, ensuite bathrooms with rose head showers, quality LCD TV, free WI-FI, MP3 docking stations and digital safes.

Cocoon is the brainchild of the team behind the award winning International Inn Apartments and Tourist Hostel and they hope this latest and unusual addition to Liverpool’s boutique hotel collection will raise the standard for budget accommodation in the city.

David Mahony, creator of Cocoon said: “The Pod hotel theme has been popular in Asia for decades and more recently proved a big hit in London and New York and we are confident Cocoon will prove just as popular with visitors to Liverpool.

“We are aiming at the “trendy traveller” market – modern travellers, complete with ipods and laptops, who may not have a lot of money to spend but who do not want to compromise on luxury.

“Each cocoon offers a conceptualized, stylish, compact space with all the comfort and amenities needed for visitors to sink back, relax and enjoy their stay in Liverpool.”

Pod hotels were inspired by Japan’s “capsule” hotels. Designed for businessmen who needed a place to crash overnight, the typical capsule hotel has a public lounge space with baths, and another large room filled with individual sleeping units - the capsules. Each capsule has its own mini TV, radio, alarm clock, and lamp. Cocoon takes this inspirational concept one step further offering a more spacious room complete with full facilities equal to that in any high standard hotel.

Prices at Cocoon start at £43 per night for a pod room. For more details call 0151 7098135.

Enjoy England Awards 2008

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

The Enjoy England Awards for Excellence were held at St George’s Hall in Liverpool last night, the first time they taken place outside London. Winners from the North West were:

Gold Awards:

Tourism Website of the Year – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Tourism Information Centre of the Year – Liverpool 08 Place

Silver Awards:

Large Hotel of the Year – Radisson Edwardian Manchester
Meet England Business Tourism Award – Manchester Central
Caravan Holiday Park of the Year – Sunset Park, near Blackpool
Large Visitor Attraction of the Year – Tullie House Museum, Carlisle

Northern Hospitality Awards 2008

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

The Lowry Hotel hosted the Northern Hospitality Awards 2008 last week. The winners included:

Best Restaurant - The London Carriage Works, Hope Street Hotel, Liverpool
Best Hotel – The Lowry, Manchester
Best Bar – Barlounge, Chester
Best Chef – Lisa Allen, Northcote Manor, Ribble Valley
Best Wine Offering, Northcote Manor, Ribble Valley

Manchester Tourism Awards 2008

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

Marketing Manchester held their annual tourism awards at Manchester Central last Thursday. The winners included:

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year: Manchester Art Gallery
Small Visitor Attraction of the Year: Smithills Hall in Bolton
Large Hotel of the Year: Marriott Worsley Park Hotel & Country Club,
Small Hotel / Bed & Breakfast of the Year: Moss Lodge in Rochdale
Self Catering / Serviced Accommodation Award: Staying Cool
Tourism Restaurant of the Year: Nutters Restaurant in Rochdale
Taste of Manchester Award: Isinglass Restaurant in Urmston
Tourism Bar of the Year: Cloud 23, Hilton Manchester Deansgate
Tourism Retailer of the Year: The Trafford Centre
Business Tourism Awards: Manchester United
Sustainable Tourism Award: The Palace Hotel

Trip Advisor’s 2008 Travellers’ Choice Awards

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

Keswick’s Cottage in the Wood Country House Hotel was the only hotel in North West England to Feature in Trip Advisor’s 2008 Travellers’ Choice Awards announced earlier this month. It ranked 7th amongst the Top 10 Best Bargains in Europe.

TripAdvisor is the world’s largest online travel community. The Travellers’ Choice Awards were determined by a combination of TripAdvisor’s Popularity Index and traveller ratings.

Bookings now being taken for Hard Days Night Hotel

Friday, January 11th, 2008

Visit North West is now taking bookings for the much-anticipated Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool. The Beatles-themed hotel opens on February 1 2008. Early booking is highly recommended.

Controversial skyscraper plans approved

Friday, June 29th, 2007

Plans for a 34-storey skyscraper on Liverpool’s waterfront have been approved by Liverpool City Council. The controversial building will be situated on Princes Dock, close to the new Malmaison Hotel. The first 12 floors will be home to a 129-bedroom hotel with a 10th floor bar, while the remainder of the building will house apartments and retail/office space.

North West scoops top prize at tourism ‘Oscars’

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

The North West fared extremely well at the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence 2007, the country’s tourism equivalent of the Oscars. A ceremony at the Banqueting Hall in London held on Wednesday saw the national award for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism go to Sir Paul McCartney and the city of Liverpool.

Gold Winners included the Number One in Blackpool (Bed and Breakfast of the Year), Stanley House near Blackburn (Small Hotel of the Year) and the Chester Grosvenor (Large Hotel of the Year).

Silver Awards went to the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester (Large Visitor Attraction of the Year) and the Low Wood Hotel in Windermere (Business Tourism Award).

Accor take over running of former Macdonald hotels

Friday, April 13th, 2007

Macdonald Hotels has lost out the Accor in race to win the long-term management contract for the 24 hotels they sold to the Moorfield Real Estate Fund earlier this year. Moorfield has awarded a 20-year management contract to the French hotel group which will operate the hotels under its Mercure brand. The deal includes the Last Drop Village Hotel in Bolton and the Dunkenhalgh Hotel in Blackburn.

Plans for hotel at Liverpool John Lennon Airport approved

Thursday, April 5th, 2007

Plans for a 157-bedroom hotel and an 869-space short-stay multi-storey car park at Liverpool John Lennon Airport have been given the green light by Liverpool City Council. Work is due to begin shortly and is expected to take 18 months to complete.

The hotel and car park will be built on the site of the existing car park opposite the terminal. They will be connected directly to the terminal by an enclosed bridge spanning the road in front of the terminal. A large video display screen will be mounted on the hotel exterior and will be used to promote events in the city.

Neil Pakey, Managing Director of Liverpool John Lennon Airport said, ‘With flights from over 60 scheduled destinations now serving Liverpool, this development is a natural progression of improved on site facilities to satisfy the needs of today’s 5 million passengers. Any international airport of our size needs a hotel adjacent to its terminal. This caters for both the inbound arriving passengers often coming in late in the evening, or for UK originating passengers with often very early departures in the morning. In terms of design we have added a large media screen to promote public art and we have also started to work with both the Southport Flower Show and the Tatton Flower Show in the hope we can bring some unique landscaping to the area. All in all it’s a very exciting development.’