FORTE is investing £100m to revamp its three-star Posthouse hotels and develop a new sub-brand, Posthouse Premier.
The company feels there is a huge opportunity to become the dominant player in that market because rival Stakis will be rebranded under the Hilton name.
The investment will take place over four years and the bulk of the money will be spent upgrading the existing 84 properties. Two more hotels will open, in the Docklands and Belfast, and Forte will look at opportunities to open other Posthouse hotels.
Thirteen of the Posthouse properties in key city centres throughout the UK will be named Posthouse Premier, with 50% of their rooms containing superior facilities, compared with 25% at standard Posthouse properties. All the Posthouses will have upgraded restaurants and bars and 45 have health clubs. Average prices are around £59 per night.
Chief executive Antoine Cau said:”Posthouse is the one we want to focus on, to drive it to be a strong mid-market brand.The mid-market is a big opportunity for us. Posthouse Premier will still be three star but will offer a little bit more.”
Cau said Posthouse will compete for business against other three-star players, Jarvis, Hilton National and Thistle.
After 17 months in the job, Cau has streamlined the company so it has four distinct brands – upmarket Meridien; three-four-star Heritage; three-star Posthouse and two-star Travelodge.
As Forte has a strong presence in London, worldwide managing director, sales and marketing, Peter Cardnell, will be responsible for marketing London to the trade. “In the trade it is about communicating the destination as well as the brand.
“For every customer who goes through a travel agent’s door, we want to say we have a property in London that will suit you.”
Cau said global expansion for the 110-property Meridien brand would continue apace; Heritage would add five properties per year to its portfolio of 49 hotels and there was also room to expand the 179-property Travelodge brand.
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