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London hotels get mega facelift
The view of the Thames from the Savoy is more cluttered than it was when Monet painted there. It is not just the modern additions to the cityscape, such as the London Eye.
- By Roger Bray, Financial Times
- Published: 23:50 September 18, 2007
London: The view of the Thames from the Savoy is more cluttered than it was when Monet painted there. It is not just the modern additions to the cityscape, such as the London Eye.
Soon after the great French impressionist stayed at the hotel at the turn of the 19th century, the balconies were removed from the suites where he worked. Bathrooms and toilets were installed, narrowing guests' perspective. Now, more than a century later, the internal clutter is to be shifted, allowing the installation of wider, more panoramic windows, as part of a facelift that will see the 263-room hotel closed from mid-December until May 2009 and is planned to cost about £100 million.
The Savoy is not alone. Its makeover is one of a clutch of London refurbishments that include some of the costliest in hotel industry history. At least as much is being spent at the Grosvenor House hotel on Park Lane, which has remained open during the first root-and-branch makeover since it opened in 1929. A recently completed upgrade at its near neighbour, the Park Lane InterContinental cost £76 million. Renovating the Connaught - due to reopen in December - cost more than £50 million while £24 million has been spent on the 170-year-old Brown's Hotel. All this investment will make life more comfortable for business travellers.
Prices
But it is bad news for those who control business travel budgets. Demand for luxury accommodation in London is high - and five-star rooms in short supply - which enables hotels to raise their prices.
Despite its fascinating history, the Savoy is in a bind. Guests have been attracted by stories of Hemingway and WC Fields drinking in the American bar, Churchill hosting private dinners, Noel Coward during the Blitz, stubbornly continuing to perform as a bomb fell nearby. Occasionally, theatregoers would return at night to find Sinatra at the piano.
But, lately, the hotel has become too jaded to command the kind of rates charged by the capital's top luxury properties. "The luxury market in London is currently anywhere between £500 and £600 a night," says general manager Kieran MacDonald. "We hope to add a couple of hundred pounds. Our typical corporate rate at busy times is now around £350 and we see that rising to £550." Chip Stuckmeyer, sales and marketing director at the Grosvenor House, says: "The renovation will allow us to charge rates in accordance with a booming market." The InterContinental says revamping its Park Lane property has had "a very positive effect on demand and rates".
Brown's, now part of the Rocco Forte stable, says it was able to increase rates "significantly" after its recent refurbishment. MacDonald, who says London has become a very expensive destination, accepts that as the hotel's rates rise, it will be used less by the rank and file of business travellers. "We recognise that when we have repositioned, many corporate clients won't use us for their general needs. They will use the hotel for senior executive and board meetings, for example. We will still offer corporate accounts, but we may need more, smaller agreements. Companies will be more selective. Requirements for 300- to 400-room nights will come down to between 50 and 100." One London hotel executive says: "I think about 10 per cent of luxury rooms in London are out of service for refurbishment - which means the other 90 per cent are making hay because there's even less supply than usual."
Jamie Talmage, business analyst for the capital's tourist board, Visit London, says current development plans indicate London's supply of about 100,000 rooms in all categories will increase by 2.7 per cent this year, 3.25 per cent next year and just under 2.7 per cent in 2009. The number of business and leisure visitors to the capital is predicted to rise by slightly more than that. Only about 12 per cent of rooms currently available are in five-star hotels, compared with 44 per cent in four-star properties.
Budget rooms
Of the extra rooms opening this year, 70 per cent are in the budget category. They include the Renaissance London St Pancras, due to open in 2009 and a 195-room Shangri-La that will occupy 34 floors of architect Renzo Piano's London Bridge Tower, better known as The Shard of Glass, to be built south of the Thames. Other new or planned hotels include three described as "four-star deluxe".
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