THE PROJECT | IBIS STYLES COVENTRY CENTRE
THE PROJECT:
IBIS STYLES COVENTRY
IBIS STYLES COVENTRY CENTRE HAS UNDERGONE A £1.2M RENOVATION TO ITS 90 GUEST
ROOMS AND THE HOTEL’S PUBLIC AREAS. THE HOTEL RECEPTION AND RESTAURANT
AREAS HAVE HAD A COMPLETE MAKEOVER AND EACH TEAM MEMBER NOW HAS A
MOBILE DEVICE WHICH ALLOWS THEM TO ACCESS HOTEL INFORMATION USING AN APP.
ALESSANDRO CARRARA SPOKE WITH GM FARIS THOWFEEK TO FIND OUT HOW THE
REFURBISHMENT HAS TRANSFORMED THE PROPERTY FOR BOTH GUESTS AND STAFF
Why was the hotel refurbished? soon as renovations were finished on this period, and some of the complaints
The owners, Cannock Group and the ground floor for example we were were only to do with noise and and
Hetherley Capital Partners, bought this able to start offering those rooms again, other factors like that. But that is
property from Accorhotels back in 2015, then the first floor and so on - phase always the case when going through a
and since then it really has been due by phase really. But naturally we lost refurbishment, and the payoff was more
for a refurbishment. No investments some of the occupancy rates during the than worth it. We did put a banner on the
had been made since the hotel opened, refurbishment, but that makes sense as front of the hotel to make sure all the
and after seeing what our competition there were less rooms to sell. guests knew what was happening and
were aware of it.
was doing we really felt that it was time
to properly invest in the property and What were the challenges of refurbish it. The hotel really needed it in keeping the hotel open? Could you tell me about your history
my opinion, and it also meant we would It was very hard, because as you can in the industry?
finally be up to the same standard of image there was so much going on; the I started in Cardiff when I was doing my
other Ibis hotels. contractors working, the noise, and at IT degree, as a night auditor working
the same time all the staff needed to part-time. I was then promoted to
Was the hotel open during the ensure that everything was running team leader and then I was given the
refurbishment period? as smoothly as possible. At one point opportunity to open up Ibis Newport as
Yes the hotel did remain open during the reception area was completely out an assistant manager. That was actually
the refurbishment period, and this was of action, and we weren’t able to greet during quite a hard time as the recession
done by having the renovation take guests there due to all the health and had just hit us when we opened the
place floor-by-floor. This meant only safety reasons. There were a lot of hotel. I worked there for another three
one floor was out of action at any given challenges on those days. years and then I had the opportunity to
time. What helped was the fact the
property only has three floors, so as
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www.hotelowner.co.uk
But I feel that we managed to keep move to Ibis Birmingham Airport, which
everything really organised throughout was a much bigger operation as it was
P
February 2019