Hotel Openings

🍔 Joshua Kleiner, head of operations and marketing at Sandwich Sandwich, stated that the brand will open a second London location by the end of the year with plans to launch four or five more in London next year, eyeing UK and international growth. Founded in 2010, the brand will debut in London on 18 July at a former Tossed site, following a win as Uber Eats UK and Ireland's Restaurant of the Year in October, receiving £100,000. Sandwich Sandwich offers made-to-order sandwiches and a variety of pastries and sweets.

🍞 Mayfair's Pollen Street Social set to close on 31 July, transitioning to pop-up 'Mary’s' on 16 August, with a permanent change planned for next year. Executive Chef Alex Parker will lead, featuring The Blind Pig bar, a £14 single-option smashed burger bar, and a transformed chef’s counter. The pop-up will run until 31 December before a four-month closure for renovations. Reopening will introduce 'Meat and Two Veg'—a smashed burger and plant-based burger bar, with a 'grill heavy' main restaurant. Named after a cherished patron, Mary’s is part of Jason Atherton’s series of 2023 launches, including 'Hot Dogs by Three Darlings' in Harrods, 'Sael' in St James’s, 'Three Darlings' in Chelsea, and 'Row on 5' in November with Spencer Metzger on Savile Row.

🏢 Crescent Hotels & Resorts announced a management deal for Virginia's first JW Marriott at Reston Station, set to open mid-2025. The 28-story building will house a 243-room hotel, 94 JW Marriott-branded condos, and offer amenities like a JW Club, fitness center, and 25,000 square feet of event space, including a 9,000-square-foot ballroom. The project is part of the $1.3 billion development, The Row at Reston Station, in the Dulles Corridor near Dulles Airport and the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.

🏡 Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants opened Kimpton BEM Budapest, a 127-room boutique hotel, alongside the Danube River in Budapest's Buda side near the Castle District. In Thailand, Meliá Hotels International is expanding with Meliá Pattaya City, a 234-room hotel set to reopen in December, and Paradisus Jomtien Resort, a 698-room property with a 43-floor tower, opening in 2028. Smith Hill Capital and Bain Capital Special Situations provided a $72 million loan to refinance Hotel Viking, a 208-room property in Newport, R.I. Crescent Hotels & Resorts will manage Virginia's first JW Marriott hotel, a 243-room property with 94 JW Marriott-branded condos above, opening in Reston in 2025.

🍴 Margo, a new 138-cover restaurant by Scoop restaurant group, is set to open on Miller Street, Glasgow. Led by Chef Robin Aitken, Margo will offer a menu of snacks, small plates, and sharing dishes featuring seasonal produce, Scottish seafood, in-house butchered meat, as well as homemade bread and pasta. The restaurant will present an extensive wine list, including fine, natural, and biodynamic wines. Aitken, who joined Ox and Finch in 2014 and contributed to Ka Pao Glasgow's Michelin Bib Gourmand, leads the latest addition to Scoop's portfolio, which includes Ox and Finch and Ka Pao in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Margo aims to evolve from Ox and Finch, sharing its ethos while promising to be "bigger and bolder.

✈ Ryanair, a budget carrier, forms its 6th 'Approved OTA' partnership with Etraveli Group, enabling OTA brands such as Mytrip, Gotogate, and Flightnetwork to offer Ryanair flights. This follows Ryanair's earlier 2023 partnerships with lastminute.com, On the Beach, Tui, Loveholidays, and Kiwi.com. Customers booking through these OTAs are guaranteed correct contact and payment info, access to myRyanair accounts, and vital flight details. Etraveli Group will use a direct API for efficient bookings. Ryanair also announces its 4th Moroccan base in Tangier for summer 2024, with 25 routes, including 13 new ones, and two aircraft based there.

🏡 Indigo Road Hospitality to open the 9th, 10th, and 11th O-Ku locations within the next year, alongside the 7th Indaco and 1st Maru location, specializing in Nikkei cuisine. Founded in 2005 by Steve Palmer with Oak Steakhouse in Charleston, S.C., the group now boasts 36 restaurants and 6 hotels. Luminosa, an Italian restaurant in Asheville, N.C., launched in May. The next O-Ku is set to open in mid-September in Alys Beach, Fla., with local chefs and Gulf coast seafood. O-Ku’s culinary director, Masatomo Hamaya, guides menu personalization, with an average check of $50-$60 per person. Upcoming openings include Tampa’s O-Ku and Maru, alongside another O-Ku in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Indaco in Nashville by 2025.

🏨 ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham opened its first location in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Wednesday. The brand has a development pipeline of nearly 270 hotels across the U.S. and Canada, with Texas and Virginia openings planned for 2023 and a goal of 75 properties by the end of 2026. CEO Geoff Ballotti highlighted the brand's growth and extended-stay market demand. Spartanburg’s first ECHO Suites, developed by Mitch Cox Companies, features a 124-room prototype on less than two acres, offering amenities like kitchens, fitness centers, and 24/7 laundry. New builds are exclusively required to maintain brand consistency, with a design offering 79% revenue-generating square footage, the highest in the industry. Mandeep Singh was appointed as vice president, Extended Stay Operations, bringing 20 years of experience to oversee Wyndham's extended-stay brands.

🍔 Azzurri Group plans to open 60 Dave’s Hot Chicken outlets in the UK, starting Q1 2025 in London. Bundobust to shut its Birmingham location on July 14th. Pizza Express tests new 'Pod' concept in Tesco, Bursledon. Chef Jakob Grant debuts Cherub’s in Deal, Kent, with 27 seats. Patrick Powell leaves The Midland Grand Dining Room and Allegra, concluding service on July 14th.