You wait years
for a W hotel in the UK, then two come along at once. Starwood’s trendy W
Hotels brand will make its debut in both London and Manchester in 2010.
W London-Leicester Square, and The Residences at W London-Leicester Square will fill the hole left by the recently demolished Swiss Centre (formerly the headquarters of the Swiss international airline), and will feature 194 rooms and 10 two-level luxury residences.
Due to open in late 2010, the hotel will include a spa, fitness centre, “world-class destination restaurant”, and W’s Living Room concept, where guests are invited to “mix, mingle and relax in a stylish social atmosphere”.
The new W properties will form part of a 10-storey mixed use development overlooking Leicester Square, and come at a time when the square is to undergo a much overdue revamp by landscape architecture consultancy firm Burns + Nice, the concept plans for which were released earlier this year (click here for more details).
W London-Leicester Square will join five other Starwood properties in central London: The Sheraton Park Tower, The Sheraton Belgravia Hotel, The Park Lane Hotel (also a Sheraton property), The Lanesborough, a St Regis Hotel, and Le Meridien Piccadilly, located just up the road from the forthcoming W hotel.
Not content with announcing the UK’s first W, Starwood has revealed plans for the W Manchester, a 160-room hotel also due to open in 2010. Located in the city’s warehouse district, the Ian Simpson-designed property will feature 650 sqm of meeting space (including a 370-sqm ballroom), a spa, fitness centre, retail store and restaurant.
The hotel will form part of the Origin mixed-use development, an ultra-modern building located on Princess Street, within walking distance of the city’s Piccadilly Station. Ian Simpson Architects was also responsible for the design of the glass tower housing the Hilton Manchester Deansgate (click here for a review of the property).
The next couple of years will see a flurry of European W openings. The brand debuted in Europe earlier this year with the W Istanbul (see online news April 3), and will see properties opening in Barcelona and St Petersburg next year, followed by Athens, Milan and the two UK hotels in 2010.
For more information visit whotels.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
