Activities

City Inn is the owner and operator of a collection of large, four-star city hotels with an award-winning approach to design. The stringent blueprint requires all City Inns to be new-builds to retain control over quality, comfort, security and consistency.

The hotels all have destination restaurants (called City Cafés) which are operated separately from the hotels and have won many awards of their own.

Key brands: City Inn

Other brands: City Cafe

Timeline

• 1995: Former property consultant David Orr sets up First Stop Hotels (the parent of City Inn) with his father Sandy Orr and business partner Donald MacDonald in a joint venture with Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS). Orr then spends three years touring UK hotels to develop his architectural blueprint for City Inns.
• May 1999: City Inn opens its first hotel in Bristol.
• May 2000: A second City Inn opens in Glasgow
• March 2001: The City Inn Birmingham joins the fold
• September 2003: The flagship Westminster City Inn opens. Its 460 bedrooms make it the largest new-build hotel in London in 30 years.

Financial snapshot

Full Year

Turnover: £18m (2003: £12m)
Gross operating profit: £9m (2003: £6.8m)
Net profit: £1.3m (2003: -£2.5m)

Year end: 31 March 2004.

Operating data

Number of hotels: four

City Inn Bristol (167 bedrooms)
City Inn Glasgow (164 bedrooms)
City Inn Birmingham (238 bedrooms)
City Inn Westminster (460 bedrooms)

Number of employees: about 400

City Cafés account for 25% of company turnover.

Strategy

The company is aiming to grow its portfolio to 10 or 11 hotels by the end of 2006. It is looking at sites in Edinburgh, Leeds, and at least three more London locations and also has major cities in the USA and Western Europe in its sights.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper, 13 November 2003

Chief executive

David Orr

Key directors

Managing director: Huw O’Connell
Director of operations: Lynn Hood
Executive chairman: Sandy Orr
Vice chairman: Donald MacDonald
Finance director: Angus MacDonald
Legal and admin director: Pauline McFarlane

Contact

Third Floor, Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
London
Greater London
SW1P 4QP

Tel: 020 7901 1606
Fax: 020 7834 1093

E-mail: mail@cityinn.com
Website: http://www.cityinn.com

Commentary

Orr’s three years of research into hotel design, room ergonomics and the needs of business travellers has resulted in a style he describes as “restrained, urban and modernistic, without being a fashion statement”.

Along with state-of-the-art sound-proofing and pure air conditioning, the hotels are marked by a detailed attention to orientation and natural lighting. As a result, all have alfresco terraces that face south or west to make the most of the light. The feature is most evident in the flagship hotel in Westminster where the top two floors of suites are enclosed by glass exterior walls and are topped by a two-storey glass atrium for private dining.

The group is constantly refining its offer and has upgraded its first three City Cafés to bring them up to the standard of the newest restaurant in Westminster.

A fifth, 284-bedroom hotel will open in Manchester’s Piccadilly Place this August as a step towards the group’s ambition of operating up to 11 hotels by the end of 2005. Orr is also looking to expand into Western Europe and the USA.