Park Plaza To Double Its UK Presence

LONDON— Park Plaza Hotels Europe (PPHE) is planning to double its UK presence over the next two years with new openings planned for Leeds, Cardiff and London, according to a recent report in Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine. Last month the new-build Park Plaza Nottingham was officially launched, the groups first hotel outside the capital. Although the 178-bedroom hotel opened its doors last August, its business center, Chino Latino restaurant and lobby café have only just opened. January also saw French-based hotel operator Accor take over the management of PPHEs first UK hotel, the Bernard Shaw Park Plaza near Kings Cross in London, which PPHE has managed since late 1999. It will be rebranded as a Novotel. These moves leave the group with three owned UK properties, including the Sherlock Holmes hotel and the Victoria Park Plaza, both in London. In the late summer, it will open the 189-bedroom Park Plaza Leeds, a conversion of a former Chamber of Commerce building near the railway station, followed in 2004 by the Park Plaza Cardiff. Those hotels will be joined in 2005 by the Riverside Park Plaza hotel, a 475-bedroom, new-build property on Londons Albert Embankment. The Amsterdam-based PPHE is a joint venture between two Israel-based companies, Red Sea Hotels and Israel-Europe. It currently owns and/or manages 19 hotels worldwide, most under the Park Plaza name.