Hotel Operations

🏨 Criterion Capital acquires former Debenhams store at 109-112 Princes Street, Edinburgh, to open the first Zedwell hotel in Scotland. Occupying over 116,500 square feet, the Edinburgh Zedwell is positioned near Old Town, the Royal Mile, and offers views of Edinburgh Castle and Princes Street Gardens. Criterion plans a UK-wide expansion with a pipeline of 22 hotels and over 7000 rooms, aiming for assets under management to exceed £6 billion. JLL advised Criterion on the acquisition. Edinburgh is considered the best performing hotel market in Europe.

🏡 Titanic Hotel Liverpool celebrates its 10th anniversary in July 2024 with month-long festivities including a special cocktail "Captain’s Farewell," giveaways, a photo gallery of its history, and a 10th-anniversary newspaper edition. Opened in 2014, the hotel is a multi-award winner, recently named Large Hotel of the Year in VisitEngland’s Awards for Excellence 2023. Guests can win prizes like Prosecco afternoon tea or a stay in a Presidential Suite in an Instagram giveaway starting 22nd July.

🍴 The Braywood, a contemporary restaurant, is set to open in November on the historic site of Royal Oak in Paley Street, near Bray. It will feature a 70-cover dining area and a cocktail bar, with Sam Brennan as head chef. WSH Restaurants expands its portfolio to six with this opening and another in London's Fitzrovia. The company, known for its high training standards, celebrates over a decade of career development for its talent.

🍽 Spanish chef José Pizarro plans to open an all-day dining restaurant named Lolo on Bermondsey Street in London. Revealed in April, Lolo reflects Pizarro's love for the UK and Spain. The menu includes a ‘bikini’ sandwich, pastries, eggs with PX sherry-cured salmon, fresh salads, tinned fish like Anchoa Catalina Gran Reserva, and a variety of Bloody Marys. The Mediterranean-inspired venue transforms from café to wine bar and will feature local art, with 46 covers and counter seating at the bar.

🍴 Created by Alan Yau, Yamabahçe in Central London serves Turkish street food with an average lunch spend of

📚 Danielle Brustman designed the interiors of Harbour Early Learning Centre in Sydney's Vaucluse suburb, focusing on themes of the sea and sky to connect children with nature and the community. The project spans three levels and features graphic elements inspired by the seaside, with rooms named Sky, Sunset, Rainbow, Under the Sea, and Boat. Collaborating with SJB, Supercontext, Fiona Robbe, and Citizen, Brustman emphasized sustainable materials and a robust furniture selection from Australian designers. The design also references Piet Mondrian's work and incorporates a vibrant blue staircase reminiscent of Sydney Harbour.

🍴 Heritage restaurant in West Sussex, launched in 2019 after a successful crowdfunding campaign by Matt Gillan, is set for a transformation. The venue, formerly a pub in Slaugham, will become an events-led space offering unique dining experiences such as high-end garden dining, masterclasses, gourmet retreats, and private parties. Heritage's final service under its current guise will be on 5 August. Gillan, a Michelin-starred chef, plans to continue the ethos of hospitality at the transformed venue.

🍕 In Waco, Texas, The Butcher’s Bar features thousand layer potatoes with crème fraîche and trout roe by Hell’s Kitchen contestants Alejandro Najar and Alyssa Osinga. Noisette in Denver offers chicken wings stuffed with sausage, topped with American sturgeon caviar. Valla Kitchen in New York City presents a som tam with strawberry and guava. Miami’s Lafayette Steakhouse serves octopus with local burrata. The National Bar in Nevada City, Calif., mixes rye, Licor 43, and Cynar for a summer cocktail.

🏠 In Amsterdam, The Social Hub is testing premium rooms designed for a "calming and functional private space," contrasting with communal areas. The year-long design process involved surveys, focus groups, and expert consultancies. Features include a hybrid space, king-size bed, rain shower, and a selection of motivational books. Italy's Rizoma Architetture leads the design with local and international partners. Following the pilot, the design will expand across the brand's portfolio in the coming years.

🍴 The Waterside Inn, a three Michelin-starred restaurant in Berkshire, reported a pre-tax loss of £181,000 for the year ended 31 December 2023, a downturn from the previous year's £814,000 pre-tax profit. Turnover slightly increased from £9.016 million to £9.064 million compared to 2022. Rising staffing, energy, and food costs were cited as the reasons for diminished profitability. The restaurant runs another establishment, Roux at Skindles in Maidenhead, and has implemented a tronc system and improved pay structure to retain staff. Future risks include UK income growth, consumer confidence, staff shortages, operational costs, political events, and currency fluctuations.