City Inn Westinster

As usual, the vote for group hotel of the year was a close run and hotly contested affair, but in the end it went down to, what judge Andrew McKenzie called, “a vote for design”, as the City Inn Westminster walked off with the prize.

But it wasn’t just looks that swung the judges, who were impressed by the hotel’s 82.2% occupancy rates and £81 achieved room rate recorded in its first full year of trading. Praise was also lavished on the F&B operation, with Simon Johnson noting that the bar and restaurant were very popular in their own right, ensuring the hotels was “not just a room factory”.

“I think what they have done is good for hotels,” added Gordon Jackson. “It brings quality food back into hotels in the three/four star market The hotel’s 200-seat City Café restaurant and Millbank Lounge alone brought in just over £3m in the first year of trading and the drive to make them destinations in their own right really paid off, with non-residents accounting for nearly half (46%) of the covers at lunch and dinner.

The general consensus was that the City Inn group had taken a “courageous” decision opening where and when they did, and on the scale they did. As judge Simon Numphud noted, when the City Inn Westminster opened in September 2003 it was the biggest new-build hotel in London for over 30 years, and there were very few hotels in the immediate Westminster area. All in all, the result was a “very professional, a very strong operation,” said Numphud.

The panel also noted the importance the opening had in the progression of the group itself, led by Sandy and David Orr. The first hotel only opened in 1999, in Bristol, and the opening of City Inn Westminster, the group’s fourth hotel, marked a real step forward both in terms of the look and feel of the concept, which started out as a kind of upmarket budget offering.

“Everything they have done since Bristol has been a progression,” said judge David Young. “Each new opening has been better, and with this hotel they have gone in and exploded the marketplace. It’s very hospitality driven, not starchy or informal.”

Put simply, the hotel is “original, innovative and provides guests with what they want,” said judge Gordon Campbell Gray. “As a hotelier, I admire City Inn for doing something modern and comfortable at the right price,” Campbell Gray added. “City Inn has got guts to it. I admire it enormously. I think it has got the wow factor.”

Here was a chic, contemporary hotel that was doing something different, both in terms of design and delivering quality F&B at affordable prices. And the business mix did not go unnoticed either. Not only does the hotel manage to prise business away from the five
star and budget markets but it seems to appeal equally to business and leisure users.

As McKenzie said: “It has almost created its own genre, somewhere between budget and full service, and it takes business from both. It has made its mark – it’s there – and people will have heard of it if not visited it. It’s a great hotel.”

The Judges

• Gordon Campbell Gray, managing director, One Aldwych
• Gordon Jackson, general manager, Thorpe Park Hotel & Spa
• Simon Johnson, analyst, UBS Investment Bank
• Andrew McKenzie, managing director, the Vineyard at Stockcross
• David Young, owner, the Cross at Kingussie
• Simon Numphud, key accounts manager, AA Hotel Services

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