[Anonymous]

[SheffieldHallam]

We are planning to start a new venture, a designer budget hotel, in Sheffield. Would you as business travellers be interested in staying at our hotel? The average price per night for a double room including wifi internet will be around £55, central location, en-suite bathroom..

[viking01]

Havent been for years – Hotel Bristol last time, which from memory was pretty good and had designer touches, though it was the car park round the back I remember the best (my room looked out onto it). With a price point like that you’d be cheaper than the budget chains so shoudl do well if you could keep it at that level

[VintageKrug]

I don’t stay in Sheffield, but do sometimes end up in regional hellholes and the Hotel du Vin chain is a lovely respite from drab Hilton’s which usually inflict themselves on these smaller towns.

I would suggest your pricepoint is too low for business travellers; the main requirement is a super-duper bed with egyptian cotton sheets and feather pillows. WiFi is vital, and cheap to provide. Air conditioning not essential in Sheffield, but might be sensible.

Really good shower gel, drenching showers and roll rop baths are not much more expensive than their standard equivalents. Top off with oodles of hot water, a decent nearby restaurant and a decent TV with a DVD player (probably an iPod connection for future proofing) and I’d say you could double your planned pricepoint, and have a clear high end positioning which would attract conference and business people during the week and Mr and Mrs Smith types at the weekend.

Having a higher price point will help your cashflow in the early days and when it comes time to sell, will set the value the business higher.

Good luck!

[Venetia]

I agree with everything that VintageKrug has said, barring the slightly techy stuff, as I don’t even own a telly – so not fit to comment. I would only add the suggestion that temperature control in the room is very important – I like to be cool, but some like it hot! Best quality sheets you can afford, very easy to operate music of some sort (preferably radio, as am an Archers addict.) Top tip: hair conditioner in the bathroom. Definitely don’t underprice xxx

[RebeccaBallatine]

The most important thing for me is:

security, peace and quiet and internet access.

I want to feel safe and get a good night sleep.

A lot of “trendy” designer hotels make the mistake of filling the rooms with gadgets which are not practical. It’s really annoying when you can’t work out which switch is for what or if you just want to watch normal TV but have to go through a whole menu pressing every button you can find.

I’d say keep it simple and really think about what is important to a business traveller – as with most budget hotels the bathrooms often have dispensers of shower gel / shampoo all in one. (if it can be used for body and hair you really have to wonder what it is.) It would be a nice touch to offer toiletries rather than concentrating on trendy gadgets.

Good luck with it all.

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