SPECIALISTS TO CONSULT FIRMS IN BID TO ATTRACT TOP HOTEL
Date : 17.01.08
Businesses in Derby are being asked to help with efforts to woo a top hotel to the city.
Derby Cityscape wants a four-star hotel, with conferencing facilities, to be part of the North Riverside development.
The project - off Derwent Street and the north bank of the River Derwent, including Exeter Place - would also include apartments and offices.
While several well-known-brand hotels are due to be built in Derby in the next few years, some businesses feel that there is still a lack of conferencing facilities in the city centre.
Cityscape has now commissioned hotel property specialists Colliers Robert Barry and specialist destination consultants Locum Consulting to create a business prospectus for Derby to put to hotel companies.
And Chester-based hotel consultants Chris Morton Associates have been asked to carry out research among Derby businesses.
Major companies in the area, including Rolls-Royce and Citigroup, owners of Pride Park internet banking firm Egg, will be asked for their views on existing hotel accommodation and conferencing facilities in the city.
Marketing Derby, an organisation set up to promote the city as a place to live, work and invest, is backing the plan for a top-quality hotel, with a conference centre, for North Riverside.
Director John Forkin said: "Many feel that there's a limited choice of conferencing facilities in the city centre. Companies that will be asked to take part in the research are those which put up a lot of their visitors in overnight accommodation.
"They also use existing conference facilities in Derby and are, therefore, best positioned to give an informed view and allow researchers to get an insight into predicted demand."
According to Mr Forkin, the benefits for Derby could be threefold.
He said: "First of all, local businesses would use the facilities. It would also attract companies from outside of the area to hold their conferences here. And, thanks to the great position of the hotel in the heart of the city, it would also attract leisure travellers."
Mr Forkin said that he hoped that the research would be completed in time for the 2008 World Property Market exhibition, which takes place in Cannes, France, in March.
Article courtesy of Derby Evening Telegraph