A hotel with some of the best views of London's most famous landmarks has opened on the banks of the River Thames. Park Plaza County Hall, the Dutch-based group's largest hotel to date, has 398 rooms, most of which are suites with a fully equipped kitchenette, living area, work space and separate bedroom. Cable television, a desk, refrigerator, coffee- and tea-making facilities and a safe are standard features in all rooms.
Executive level guests have additional services, including luxury bathrobe and slippers, upgraded bathroom amenities, trouser press and a complimentary morning newspaper. Located in a regenerated area of the South Bank, close to the London Eye and Waterloo station, the hotel has six function rooms, each with natural light and integrated technology, such as wi-fi and triple-glazed floor-to-ceiling windows, and can cater for up to 100 delegates. Seven top-floor penthouse suites, each with private balconies affording dramatic views of the London skyline, are also adaptable for smaller meeting groups and are ideal for receptions and private functions. A fitness centre, complete with gym, sauna, steam room, monsoon showers and massage and beauty treatment facilities, is also available to guests as well as members. Special introductory rates start from as little as £89 (US$173) per night at weekends and £149 (US$290) mid-week for a limited period. Park Plaza, which currently has 25 properties, including five in London, is due to open hotels in Doha later this year, in Marrakech and Cologne (art'otel) in 2009, and a sixth London property – at Westminster Bridge – in 2010. Citadines’ Australian debut
The first Citadines brand of serviced apartments in Australia is scheduled to open in Melbourne's Central Business District in 2010. Parent company Ascott International is investing A$136.2 million (US$117 million) in the 398-unit property – the largest in the Citidines portfolio of 49 serviced residences – which will be located at the heart of the CBD at 131-135 Bourke Street. RFC for the UAE
The Rocco Forte Collection, one of Europe's leading hotel groups, is making its first foray into the Middle East. It is to manage a 282-room 5-star property, opening in Abu Dhabi in 2010. Located in an area destined to become the UAE capital's new commercial centre, the hotel will have extensive meetings and leisure facilities, including a 25-metre pool and a 500m2 health club and spa. There will be nine function rooms, the largest of which will accommodate up to 700 people for an event. New heights for Hyatt
Hyatt is to open two hotels in China this summer, and both are set to become architectural landmarks. The Park Hyatt Shanghai, due to open in July in Pudong, will occupy the 79th to 93rd floors of the city’s World Financial Centre, and, it is claimed, will be the highest hotel in the world at the time of its completion. Later this summer, the group will open the Park Hyatt Beijing, opposite the China World Trade Centre. The group says its 66th-floor restaurant will be the highest in the capital, with 360-degree views of the city. And the autumn of next year will see the opening of the Grand Hyatt Moscow within The Federation Tower Building, which the hotel group claims will be Europe’s tallest tower at 448 metres. News in brief Marriott International is next year to open a 318-room Renaissance-branded hotel close to Amsterdam Schiphol airport.
Kempinski, Europe's oldest luxury hotel group, has opened a complex of serviced apartments in central Istanbul. Residences Astoria are available for mid- to long-term rentals. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has opened a 247-room Towers property in the Heliopolis area of Cairo, its first in Egypt. A second property, the Nile City, also in Cairo, is due to open later this year.
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