Wembley hotel rethink leaves Hilton on hold

The 200-bedroom hotel that was to be built as part of the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium looks almost certain to be postponed and may be scrapped altogether.

Hilton has an agreement to operate the four-star hotel, which was due to be built alongside the new national stadium on the site of the current Wembley football ground in north London.

However, just before Christmas, the man driving the hotel and leisure complex side of the development, Ken Bates, was forced to step aside as Wembley chairman after the Football Association (FA) decided the cost of the project was spiralling out of control.

Last year Wembley dismissed reports that spiralling costs would force it to scrap plans for the hotel (Caterer, 23 November 2000, page 6).

Bates had made no secret of the fact he favoured building a complex similar to the one he has constructed in Chelsea incorporating a hotel, conference centre and other leisure facilities.

Alarm bells started ringing at the FA (which operates Wembley National Stadium as a subsidiary business), when it emerged that the cost of the overall development would rise from £250m to £660m.

"We are in the process of putting together several proposals, some including and some excluding the hotel," said Wembley spokesman Chris Palmer.

Hilton said it was waiting to hear the outcome of talks before formulating a response.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 4-10 January 2001