Features

Hotel brands you need to know... Park Plaza

28 Sep 2011 by BusinessTraveller

With half a dozen London properties, the four-star brand offers ample choice in the capital, says Liat Clark

Who are they?

A four-star global brand operating under the Carlson umbrella, Park Plaza has ten hotels in the UK and Ireland.

Where in the UK?

Launched in the Netherlands in 1989, the four-star Park Plaza group now has ten hotels across the UK and Ireland. Six are in London – County Hall, Riverbank, Sherlock Holmes, Plaza on the River, Westminster Bridge and Victoria. One of these is five-star – the Plaza on the River – and the Victoria, County Hall and Plaza on the River properties have apartments available to rent for one night or more.

The 178-room Park Plaza Nottingham is centrally located, Park Plaza Leeds is a two-minute walk from the train station, the Cardiff one is between the three main rail stations and the Belfast hotel is by the airport.

As the brand expands, you can expect the focus on prime locations to continue. Park Plaza’s UK regional general manager, Greg Hegarty, says: “We’ve been asked to operate or invest in numerous hotels but have walked away because the locations didn’t suit our business model.”

What are the hotels like?

With the exception of the Leeds and Nottingham hotels (both former offices converted by Park Plaza), all the properties are purpose built by the group. The striking glass-walled Park Plaza Westminster Bridge opened last March with 1,021 rooms, and meeting venues (including a 1,200 sqm ballroom) kitted out with audiovisual systems and projectors. (Visit businesstraveller.com/tried-and-tested for a full review.) The other hotels have far fewer rooms.

It helps, Hegarty says, that the company’s chairman and main shareholder, Israeli property tycoon Eli Papouchado, also owns a construction company. “We can build, operate and manage our hotels,” Hegarty says.

Although the company has a history of leasing hotels or operating franchises, it has recently bought out any UK joint ventures and the only remaining franchises are the Cardiff and Belfast properties. It also operates under the Carlson hotels banner, meaning it benefits from the brand’s speedy online booking and distribution system.

“Carlson has really allowed us to shape and drive the brand on its behalf,” Hegarty says. “They allowed us free reign, in consultation with them, to make sure they were comfortable with where we were taking the brand.”

Are they for business travellers?

With a room count over 2,300 in London and growing, Park Plaza is well set up for business in the capital. It is lacking in the regions but the present inventory is well placed near main transport gateways.

That the hotels are new also works in Park Plaza’s favour. “Rooms are purpose-built for staging and presentations,” Hegarty says. “We have our own AV supplier on-site in all of our major properties, so we’re able to adapt quickly if someone has a problem or challenge.”

The introduction of free wifi in all hotels (bar the Nottingham and Belfast ones, where it is charged at about £8 per 24 hours) is a bonus and rooms all feature flatscreen TVs, laptop safes,
tea- and coffee-making facilities and irons and ironing boards. Some guestrooms have extra touches, such as Playstations in Park Plaza Belfast, marble bathrooms in Park Plaza Victoria’s 12 apartments and international sockets in a number of the properties.

Hegarty describes the brand as “affordable luxury” – the hotels are full service, with distinct food offerings such as the pan-Asian Chino Latino in London Riverbank, Plaza on the River, Nottingham and Leeds and the Brasserie Joël (run by Michelin-star chef Joël Antunes) in Westminster. The room categories in most hotels jump from an entry level of Superior straight to Studio (the latter features separate lounge areas).

Is there a loyalty scheme?

As part of the Carlson group, Park Plaza is a member of the newly branded Club Carlson loyalty programme, launched on March 31. The scheme is a tier-based point system, with members of higher tiers eligible for free room upgrades, and early check-ins and check-outs, among other benefits. Members can earn points at Radisson, Radisson Blu, Country Inns and Suites by Carlson, Park Inn by Radisson and Park Plaza properties worldwide and then redeem them in these hotels (with no blackout dates) or with the scheme’s 22 member airlines.

Tell me the good news…

The properties are well equipped for meetings. Some have dedicated conference floors, while the Riverbank has a separate entrance for delegates and one of the largest capacities with ten rooms, the biggest of which hosts 660 delegates. The Westminster’s dramatic ballroom can host 1,400 people for a drinks reception. “You’re probably looking at well over 6,000 sqm of business space in London” Hegarty says.

Refurbishments are ongoing. The Leeds property is currently having its public spaces and in-room soft furnishings overhauled, and work then starts on Nottingham. “Internally, we put a percentage of our income back into property refurbishment every year,” Hegarty says.

And the bad…

For those looking to stretch the internet bandwidth at a Park Plaza with free wifi, the sudden demand for credit card details will come as an unwelcome surprise. “If you were downloading your emails or using Skype, that’s complimentary. But if you want to start streaming movies you have to pay,” Hegarty says. “We give away a basic package to all guests but as soon as you want to do more, I think we always have to charge.” For example, Park Plaza County Hall offers free access up to 256MB per second, and charges £7.50 for 24 hours for a faster connection (the upgrade is free for conferences).

What’s more, with the exception of the Westminster property – which has a 24-hour business centre with PCs, workstations and a full secretarial service and a separate executive lounge serving breakfast, canapés and alcoholic drinks – there are no dedicated business centres.

Future plans?

Expansion abroad is a focus – several properties are slated to open in India (Chandigarh, New Delhi and Coimbatore this year, Mylapore next) and China (Chengdu in 2012 and Shenyang Hunnan in 2013).

In the UK, Hegarty says the group would like a property in Manchester, Glasgow or Edinburgh, if it can find the right location. Park Plaza’s sister brand, Art’otel – targeted at a young demographic – will launch in London’s Hoxton in 2013, and earlier this year Park Plaza secured the purchase of an 8,000 sqm site at Park Royal in north-west London for £6 million. “It will be a Park Plaza concept but completely different from what we’ve done before,” Hegarty says.

He also mentions the possibility of branching into the budget arena. “I think if you were to look at areas we’re not in, the budget sector could be an area we’d start looking at,” he says. “We are aggressively looking to build and manage hotels.”

Where can I learn more?

Visit parkplaza.com, or parkplaza.com/london for hotels in the capital.

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