Hallmark Hotels continues expanding, adding eight hotels in to North West England

Following another positive financial year for Topland and Topland’s expanded hotel portfolio and five months after the new Hallmark Hotels brand was unveiled; March 2016 sees the portfolio expand by 40% as it welcomes the Feathers Hotels Collection into the group. The integration of the additional eight hotels brings Topland Group another step closer to fulfilling its objective to build a £1bn hotel business. The news sees Hallmark Hotels group widen its offer within the North West of England, to provide accommodation, combined with meetings and events space within Liverpool, Preston, Chester, Wrexham as well as an additional hotel in Manchester. The Hallmark Hotels portfolio offers business and leisure guests’ a warm and welcoming environment with reliable good quality accommodation and food, in a wide range of locations from City Centre’s, rolling countryside, manor style houses, spa retreats and well-placed airport locations. The uniting of the portfolio brings the number of nationwide Hallmark Hotels to 28, with a total number of rooms offered across the UK up to 2700. Over 16,000 square metres of space across 171 individual and purpose built function rooms will now be available by Hallmark Hotels, many of which offer a variety of genuinely unique sites for both leisure and business use, weddings and events. Robert Alley, Hallmark Hotels Group Sales and Marketing Director comments: “Feathers Hotels bring with them a strong reputation in their local markets for originality and service culture. A popular choice for social events, they are a perfect fit into the enlarged Hallmark Hotels portfolio where progress has been made to establish the portfolio as one of the leading independent hotel brands in the UK.” The eight former Feathers Hotels will receive investment from Topland Group, with a significant number of bedrooms across the properties scheduled to receive a complete refurbishment, including an interiors refresh, whilst continuing to retain their unique individual characteristics and architectural charm. The hotels will also undergo a name change to the following:

• Best Western Premier Hallmark Hotel Preston Leyland; Best Western Hallmark Hotel Warrington Fir Grove; Best Western Hallmark Hotel Manchester Willow Bank
• Best Western Hallmark Hotel Liverpool Alicia; Best Western Hallmark Hotel Liverpool Feathers
• Best Western Premier Hallmark Hotel Chester The Queen; Best Western Hallmark Hotel Chester Westminster; Best Western Hallmark Hotel Chester Llyndir Hall

Lionel Benjamin, Director of Hotels, at the Topland Group comments "Topland Group’s investment into the North of England’s hotel industry supports the Northern Powerhouse’s efforts to improve economic growth for the area. The expansion of the Hallmark Hotels portfolio within this specific region brings with and supports employment, both for hotel teams, suppliers and partners whilst also driving demand to the destination both for leisure and business travellers.” Topland has already injected substantial investment across the group, from bedroom and function suite refurbishments, to leisure club facility upgrades including state of the art gym equipment and improvements to the golf courses of its two golfing hotels, Hallmark Hotel The Welcombe and Hallmark Hotel Cambridge. Additional investment has, and will continue to be made in new technology, enabling guests to enjoy complimentary high speed Wi-Fi across the group whilst all restaurants adopt the new Hallmark Hotels F&B. This will include the introduction of the new breakfast standards being rolled out across the group in early March 2016. Topland Group owns The Royal Crescent in Bath, five Thistle hotels in London and one in Edinburgh, Hilton Glasgow, Hilton Brighton Metropole, and Ramada London Gateway. Topland is jointly developing a new build Holiday Inn Express adjacent to Events City in Manchester, by the Trafford Centre.