M&L Hospitality, the Singapore-based hotel investment platform celebrates the opening of a new 19-storey hotel development, The Lume, in Manchester, UK. Boasting both Crowne Plaza® and Staybridge Suites® hotel brands, the hotel has officially welcomed its first guests this week.
The Lume hotel development, named as a celebration of the light-filled ‘illuminated’ hotel also recognises the textile ‘loom’, an innovation that will forever be linked to Manchester. Located in the bustling Oxford Road area within walking distance of the city centre, the newly completed 328-room hotel development marks M&L Hospitality’s first property in Manchester, bringing their UK portfolio to 5 hotels.
Travellers to the north of England will now have a new way to experience Manchester; the choice of two different IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) hotel styles under one roof. Located on the upper seven floors, Staybridge Suites will offer a mix of 116 modern studio and one-bedroom suites featuring fully-equipped kitchens and panoramic views of the city from the terrace on the 18th floor. Occupying the lower 12-storeys, Crowne Plaza will feature 212 guest rooms, a 120-seat restaurant, bar, fully equipped 24-hour gym, club lounge and seven state-of-the-art meeting rooms catering for over 200 delegates.
The Lume is located on the Oxford Road Corridor, an innovation district south of Manchester’s city centre, running the length of Oxford Road from St Peter’s Square to Whitworth Park, and West from Higher Cambridge Street to Upper Brook street in the East.
“Business and leisure travellers are constantly demanding a new hotel experience, with most opting for flexible offerings and well-located hotel experiences. The location of The Lume boasts easy access to transport links and Manchester’s major tourism attractions and commercial hubs. Short and long-stay business clients, leisure visitors, entrepreneurs, academics and those visiting the universities nearby, are all expected to become regular guests of the hotel,” Neil Maxwell, Chief Executive Officer of M&L Hospitality also commented.
The dual-branded hotel development forms part of the University of Manchester’s Campus Masterplan, which includes the wider redevelopment of Alliance Manchester Business School. It also adjoins its new two-storey Executive Education Centre, which will provide a new home for the business school’s corporate leadership and management programmes. Further enhancing The Lume’s connection to the city, its meeting rooms are named after famous University of Manchester alumni including Alan Turing, Sir Howard Bernstein and Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington.
Andrew Fletcher, The Lume’s General Manager said, “With more than 60,000 people calling the district home, with institutions including The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust all based here, we are confident that The Lume is very much one of a kind in Manchester’s city centre and are looking forward to meeting guests and visitors over the next few months and beyond”.
The opening of The Lume hotel brings M&L Hospitality’s global portfolio to 17 hotels across 7 countries.
