TOPHOTELNEWS Live Blog roundup: Hotel funding, constructions and renovations

Hospitality and coronavirus. We bring you a compilation of our TOPHOTELNEWS’ live blog posts

Summarising info shared on the TOPHOTELNEWS Covid19 live blog, it’s not all doom and gloom in the world of hospitality, as certain projects get the green light and others finish renovations.

Combing through the TOPHOTELNEWS Covid19 live blog, there are some good news stories out there. We round up some of the most heartening developments from around the globe in the world of hospitality.

Melbourne Towers and Westin Reston Heights still on track

Construction of the two 380 Melbourne Towers development is pressing ahead. One of the two towers under construction will contain a Voco hotel, while the other will house apartments. Similarly, the new Westin Reston Heights hotel recently completed its refurbishment project, and is now open and operational.

Art’otel and Hotel La Tour get green light in UK

Funding has been secured for two important projects in the UK, the Art’otel project in London’s Shoreditch, and the Hotel La Tour in Milton Keynes. The 261-key Hotel La Tour has been given the green light to the tune of a £22m investment, while the Art’otel, located on a prime site in the trendy East End neighbourhood, has secured £180m in funding, which should remain in place until April 2024.

Luxury service and offering direct to your home

Delivery and takeaway services have gone into overdrive, and although platforms like Deliveroo have been bringing meals from your favourite restaurants to your door for a while now, hotels and high end eateries have largely maintained their exclusivity in this regard. But the pandemic is forcing proprietors of luxury establishments to rethink their business models, and venues as diverse as Michelin star restaurants to cocktail bars are engaging with customers in a way never seen before. Michelin star restaurant Liath in Dublin, Ireland, is cooking two course meals for its customers that can be collected and plated up at home. The Artesian at The Langham London is offering guests demo mixology classes, while the Four Seasons Washington DC is giving tips on how to create that crisp hotel environment in your own home.

Hotels offer accommodation as support during crisis

It has been widely reported that hotels are stepping up to house everyone from the homeless to those trapped in an abusive home environment, and in the US, over 15,000 hotels have offered up their vacant hotel rooms and spaces as venues for healthcare and essential services. The American Hotel & Lodging Association launched the Hospitality for Hope Initiative to connect hotels with local healthcare providers and governments. “From what we’ve been hearing out there, nobody wants to do what happens in times of hurricanes, where hotels are a source of refuge, but they price gouge,” said PKF Hotelexperts Managing Director Channing Henry. “This is the opposite of that, is very property specific, and comes from a collaborative space.”