A five-star resource in the region

Feb 27 2009 by Nicholas Craig, The Journal

HOW many hotels can Newcastle and Gateshead hold before we have enough rooms to satisfy demand?

There are already 62 hotels with over 5,000 rooms in the city, but there is a blizzard of plans for many more large and small hotels.

This buoyant market is good news for Newcastle’s shops, restaurants, entertainment and business centres.

Short breaks to the city continue to be popular despite the recession. Weekend visitors, conferences and business trips are keeping occupancy rates robust all year round.

New hotels being planned or built include a 169-room Sandman Signature hotel at the site of S&N Breweries’ 13-storey block, an upmarket Crowne Plaza at Silverlink’s Stephenson Quarter, an £8m Sleeperz at the arches behind Central Station, a new 200-room Jurys Inn in Gateshead, and boutique hotels including a four star, 10-suite hotel at Friar House.

These complement recently opened establishments such as the smart Townhouse at Gosforth and the popular backpackers hostel in Grainger Street.

The range of places to stay makes a visit to Newcastle all the more enticing. It extends the choice of restaurants and introduces new spa and leisure facilities for all of us to enjoy as a treat on the doorstep alongside UK and overseas visitors.

When we tot up the package we offer tourists, it’s easy to dwell on the cultural choice, nearby coast and countryside and compact centre of the city.

The variety and quality of hotels in and around Newcastle rarely makes it into the top five reasons to stay.

Yet from the visitors’ point of view, the place you relax, sleep and eat often forms the first and most important impression of the city. The fact that our hotel sector is so healthy and competitive makes a huge difference to the numbers of repeat visits we achieve.

We are lucky to have a fantastic waterfront, keenly sought after by hotel developers, terrific historic buildings able to be transformed by operators such as Malmaison, Hotel du Vin and Grey Street Hotels, and a range of purpose-built hotels from one to four stars all within a square mile.

The appetite of developers and operators does not seem to be waning.

Hotels in the North East will continue to spring up from now until 2012 from plans already submitted and approved. Each one brings jobs, visitors and new benefits to the city and the region. They’re a five star resource for the region.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm