BHN speaks to Stephen Rycroft, general manager of the four-star Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly, following the hotel’s multimillion pound renovation and repositioning.
• Were there any challenges associated with the repositioning of Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly?
We spent £30 million on this property, rebranding to a Marriott hotel and still trading through whilst we were doing that refurbishment.
So some of the questions that we had to figure out included: How do we still provide restaurant services for guests? How do we provide breakfast when we’ve got the restaurant being taken offline and refurbished? Where do we position the reception desk, for example, so that we’re still able to look after the needs of customers?
We also had the challenges of updating to Marriott’s proprietary systems. We calculated that in October of 2023, we wrapped up around 5,000 training hours while still operating the hotel.
• How is the growth of Manchester’s tourism industry shaping future supply, and what effect will this have on the competitive hotel landscape in the city?
Manchester is a very diverse city. I think the continued success of its sporting teams such as Manchester City in recent times, has opened up Manchester to new guests and fans visiting from all over the world. This is supported by new airlines coming on board with new routes into Manchester airport, so we’ve seen growth from the USA, a welcome return from the Chinese market, alongside the Middle East and India as growth markets.
There’s such a diverse range of hotels in Manchester, there’s a hotel choice for every guest. Our hotel, as an example, is the largest four-star upscale hotel in Manchester, located right next to Piccadilly train station, with great meeting facilities. This means we’re able to accommodate corporate midweek guests in our hotel, and also the leisure guest who are visiting at the weekends.
New offerings such as the Co-op Live is also bringing a resurgence of entertainment, particularly live music, which isn’t too different to when I was growing up in the ‘90s. The city certainly has an offering for everybody.
