Park Plaza Hotels Europe (PPHE) is to double its UK presence over the next two years with new openings planned for Leeds, Cardiff and London.
Last month saw the official launch of its £15m new-build Park Plaza Nottingham, the group's first hotel outside the capital. Although the four-star, 178-bedroom hotel opened its doors last August, its business centre, flagship restaurant Chino Latino and Lobby Café have only just come on line.
January also saw French-based hotel operator Accor take over the management of PPHE's first UK hotel, the Bernard Shaw Park Plaza near King's Cross in LOndon, which PPHE has managed since late 1999. It will be rebranded as a Novotel.
These moves leave the group with three owned UK properties, including the Sherlock Holmes hotel and the Victoria Park Plaza, both in London.
In the late summer, it will open the four-star, 189-bedroom Park Plaza Leeds, a conversion of an old Chamber of Commerce building near the railway station, followed in 2004 by the Park Plaza Cardiff.
They will be joined in 2005 by the Riverside PAark Plaza hotel, a four-star, 475-bedroom, new-build property on London's Albert Embankment.
The Amsterdam-based group is a joint venture between two Israel-based companies, Red Sea Hotels and Israel-Europe. It currently owns and/or manages 19 hotels worldwide, most under the Park Plaza name.