Another glimpse at Café Royal...

Hotel Café Royal , London

 

Once famous as a West End meeting place for artists and intellectuals, the Café Royal is reopening in the summer of 2012 as a hotel of The Set. This is the return of a London institution that, throughout its 150 year history, has periodically reinvented itself to define the moods, social mores and style of the capital.




The new 159-room luxury hotel is striking in the bold simplicity of its conception and true to the glamorous spirit of the Café Royal. It offers an Akasha Holistic Wellbeing Centre, including pool, gym, spa, yoga and meditation studios, as well as restaurants, bars and the famous Grill Room and Domino Room to be presided over by one of London’s leading chefs.
Interpreting this famous establishment on Regent Street and translating it into the modern context is David Chipperfield Architects. The result is a perfect balance of 21st century style with the famous Grade I listed 1860s and 1920s public rooms of the original, which have been preserved. The development has taken three years to complete.


 

CAFE' ROYAL ONCE AGAIN...

The Cafe Royal Hotel, London.



The hotel is located in the heart of the West End. Close to everything.






If you are not familiar with Cafe Royal, this is actually a very old and well known venue.
Opened as a true cafe in the 1800′s it soon became the epicenter of London culture and cool. Patron’s included Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle and all manner of other illuminated
locals.






The tradition and popularity continued through the 1940s and 50s….
A fine couple enjoying a lavish dinner at the Cafe Royal in 1953.





Through the 60′s and 70′s it was still “the” place to be.
In a historic moment in rock and roll history, Bowie threw a retirement party for his Ziggy Stardust persona with a few famous friends (Lou Reed, Mick et al). I’m sure that was boring.





The tradition of importance in London continued into the 1980s. Here Princess Diana departing a
lunch date at Cafe Royal.




In the 1990s the venue and hotel was sold and a few years back a massive and comprehensive restoration of the building was started.
and it’s not quite done yet….




That said, during the hard hat tour we were able to visit all of the function space and see some mock up rooms and this property had us all (18 jaded LHW sales staff) oohing and ahing the entire time


The hotel is slated to open later this year (but early next year is more likely..)
159 total keys (49 suites) and some of the coolest outdoor and ballroom space in London.
The presidential suite is actually round, with a dome ceiling and has 360 degree views of the neighborhood. Yes, they will sell it for cocktail receptions for groups.
Here is a mock up room image….




So ridiculously tasteful and refined. The photos don’t do this property justice.





For more images and information click on the links below for e-brochures:


http://hotelcaferoyal.com/view-brochure
 

What is the best part about the opening?

Teamwork and camaraderie is without a doubt the best part about an opening. There is a huge

amount of shared pride and achievement in realising a vision and creating a culture that will

continue for many years to come.


Close working relationships develop among pre-opening teams and many eople often create life-long friendships.

What's exciting about working in a new opening?

 

The most exciting thing for anyone working on a new opening is the opportunity to be part of

something special from its inception. There is always a tremendous amount of dedication, belonging

and ownership among the opening teams of new hotels.

It can be exceptionally hard work at times, however once the hotel has opened you can look back at

the effort everyone has made during the pre-opening period and be proud of what the team has

achieved as whole.

Café Royal is more than a hotel opening. We are part of the renaissance of an iconic London

landmark and we are tasked with writing the next chapter of this building’s amazing history which

spans over 150 years.

It is located in the heart of the one world’s most vibrant cities with prestigious Mayfair to the west

and creative Soho to the east. Cafè Royal wants to take a spirited approach to the future whilst being

respectful to our rich historical and cultural heritage.

Surely there is nothing more exciting?

A BLAST FROM THE PAST...CAFE' ROYAL BETWEEN PAST AND FUTURE...

CAFE' ROYAL

The historic Café Royal in Regent Street, where Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley were once regulars in the Grill Room, is to be transformed into a 160-bedroom five-star hotel under a multi-million pound deal being finalised today.

The hotel is expected to be completed in time for the 2012 Olympics and would be in pole position to capitalise on the huge demand for rooms in central London.
It could also act as a suitably prestigious base for bodies such as the International Olympic Committee.
Home to the National Sporting Club for many years as well as being a venue for banquets and conferences, the Café has been leased by the Crown Estate to Isreal-based Alrov Group, which sepcialises in developing landmark buildings and has a number of properties in Israel and Europe.
The 125-year, £90million lease deal was first mooted earlier this year and has now been officially signed.
The hotel will be the centrepiece of the massive Quadrant development by the Crown Estate which is designed to revitalise and open up the southern end of Regent Street and create a 44,000 square foot public space.
Much of it will be traffic free and, after Trafalgar Square, it will be the largest new public space created in London for more than 30 years.
The development site will include the Regent Palace Hotel as well as the existing Quadrant Arcade and has been described as the "most ambitious development ever undertaken on Regent Street".
It will also include 16,000 square feet of shopping space, with many famous names expected to be keen on a base in Regent Street which is already home to big names such as Apple and the recently opened Banana Republic.
The Georgian thoroughfare was designed by John Nash in the early 1800s and named after the then Prince Regent, later George IV. Completed in 1825 and originally called New Street, all of Regent Street, which was built to a unified design is now Grade II listed.
The public rooms of the Café Royal, which include the Grill Room, are all Grade I listed and will be preserved under the development scheme.
The new hotel will also include a spa, gym and restuarant, expected to be presided over by one of London's leading chefs.
Georgi Akirov, Managing Director of Alrov's luxury hotel business said: "We look forward to delivering a world class hotel in this exciting location, in time for the 2012 London Olympics."
"Café Royal occupies a unique place in London's history, culture and heritage. Alrov has a proud history of developing projects, within landmark buildings around the world, which respect and build on the cultural heritage of the site."
The Café Royal, currently in the hands of the Stanwood Hotel group, was established in the 1860s by Daniel Thevenon, a bankrupt French wine merchant who fled his home country to try his hand in London.
By the 1890s it had become one of the centres of fashionable London, and frequented by such figures as Wilde, as well as the artist James McNeill Whistler and Max Beerbohm, the caricaturist.
Since 1951, it has been home to the National Sporting Club, which stages boxing matches and other events, usually attended by a host of sporting stars and celebrities.
The Crown Estate owns almost all of Regent Street and has been anxious to develop the southern end near Piccadilly Circus, which has not prospered as much as the Oxford Circus end.
Although this is Alrov's first major venture in Britain, the company owns property in France, Switzerland and the Netherlands and is one of Israel's top groups.

The haunt of intellectuals, artists and royalty

The Café Royal was established in 1865 by Parisian wine merchant Daniel Nicholas ThÈvenon, who was fleeing bankruptcy in his home country.
In 1894 it was the scene of an infamous murder when night porter Marius Martin was found with two bullets in his head.
Oscar Wilde had his only civil meeting with the Marquis of Queensberry there and also lunched with Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie). Wilde later brought a libel case against the Marquis which backfired and led to his own prosecution and imprisonment for gross indecency.
The café's domino room was called the "haunt of intellect and daring" by Max Beerbohm.
Regular customers included W B Yeats, Ernest Dowson, Arthur Symons, George Bernard Shaw, Paul Verlaine, Walter Sickert, Augustus John and Whistler. The wit and artist Will Rothenstein drank vermouth there.
The café was frequented by Edward VIII and George VI in the early part of the 20th century. An entry in the waiter's instruction book ran: "Prince of Wales, Duke of York lunch frequently. Always plain food and no fuss. Call head waiter and notify the manager."
The National Sporting Club's boxing activities found a permanent home at the Café Royal in 1955.
In 2003, the body of a 47-year-old Ukrainian cleaner was found in a broom cupboard there.

Due creazioni che anche il nostro team, con la sua professionalità, ha fatto nascere...guardate un po'!!

http://www.thesethotels.com/

Un po' di ... Café Royal !! So delicious...

Il Café Royal di Londra diventa hotel 5 stelle

Inaugurato nel 1865, il Café Royal di Londra ha chiuso i battenti a fine 2008, dopo 143 anni di servizio. Situato in Regent Street, vicino Piccadilly Circus, fin dalla sua apertura è stato uno dei café più importanti e famosi di Londra, frequentato da membri dell’aristocrazia inglese, politici e personalità britanniche ed europee, tra cui sono ricordati con più frequenza Winston Churchill ed Oscar Wilde.
Il Café Royal si prepara ora ad una ristrutturazione da parte di Mace Group che lo convertirà in un hotel a 5 stelle, pronto per essere utilizzato subito prima delle Olimpiadi del 2012 che si terranno a Londra. Il progetto, che avrà un costo di circa 70 milioni di sterline, prevede un boutique hotel a 5 stelle con 160 camere da letto, spa e centro benessere con piscina, oltre ad aree commerciali e d’intrattenimento; la ristrutturazione dell’intero Quadrante 1 in Regent Street comprende anche l’hotel Oddeninos ed un edificio municipale.



Anche al Café Royal ci sarà la firma... AP MONTAGGI SRL.

DATE UNO SGUARDO AL ME LONDON HOTEL... HAVE A LOOK AT ME LONDON HOTEL...

Hotel ME London | it.Melia.com

Something about " Me London Hotel" and the origin of "Sol Melià"...

The hotel is in the final stage of construction and is located in the tourist and business heart of London, next to Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square, in the district of Holborn. The building has 10 room floors and four underground floors and occupies a triangular piece of land which was previously the site of the famous "Casa Marconi" and the City Bank building. The hotel will provide 173 rooms in four different categories and its strategic location and characteristics - it will also offer a 730 m2 Convention Centre and spectacular restaurants and bars - will make the future ME London Hotel an icon of the London hotel industry for both business and leisure travellers.

The ME London is expected to open in 2012 and will become the second hotel for the Sol Meliá chain in the British capital, joining the Meliá White House, located next to Regent's Park and which has enjoyed a decade of uninterrupted success.

The acquisition has been made for 133 million euros and Sol Meliá will take over responsibility for finalising construction and equipping the hotel, estimated in 52 million euros.

Strategy and Brand for difficult times

The operation supports the Sol Meliá strategy for growth in its hotel business through enhanced brand equity, one of the focuses of the company's Strategic Plan in recent years, and thanks to which the company has been able to combine rigorous control over costs and investments while also taking advantage of the most attractive market opportunities which have arisen during the crisis, including assets which have become available due to the real estate crash.

As explained by the Vice Chairman and CEO of Sol Meliá, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, "this deal brings the addition of a strategic asset in a key destination, and also positions the brand in one of the most important feeder markets in the world travel industry".

Sol Meliá is confident that the ME London, located in the heart of London's social and business life, will further raise its brand awareness and reputation in international markets. The ME by Meliá brand is the most innovative and avant-garde luxury brand operated by Sol Meliá and currently includes two hotels in Spain, the ME Madrid and ME Barcelona, and two in Mexico, the ME Cancun and ME Cabo, with the addition also scheduled of the ME Vienna, occupying 22 floors of the tallest building in the Austrian capital.

Designed to be integrated like the other ME brand hotels within the fabric of city life, the Foster-designed hotel will have 2 destination restaurants and bars at ground level, a "The Level" floor, and a lounge providing an extraordinary setting for leisure and business travellers, astonishing urban views and distribution of internal spaces.

Built in line with the most rigorous standards, the ME London hotel is scheduled to open in 2012 with "Biosphere Hotel" certification, a social and environmental hallmark already granted to the ME Madrid, ME Cancun and ME Barcelona" hotels of the same brand.

About Sol Meliá

Sol Meliá was founded in 1956 in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and is one of the world's largest resort hotel chains, as well as Spain's leading hotel chain in both the business and leisure markets. It currently provides more than 300 hotels in 26 countries on 4 continents under its brands: Gran Meliá, Meliá, ME by Meliá, Innside by Meliá, Tryp by Wyndham, Sol, Paradisus y Sol Meliá Vacation Club. www.solmelia.com

Sol Meliá is the only travel company included in the exclusive "FTSE4GoodIbex" Spanish stock market index and is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact. In 2008 the company approved its Global Sustainability Policy and in 2009 it was named the first "Biosphere Hotel Company" by the Responsible Tourism Institute, supported by UNESCO. That same year the company was also awarded the Prince Felipe Award for Tourism Excellence for the second time.

The company currently employs more than 33,000 people worldwide with staff from over 90 different countries. The company fully respects equal rights and balance in its contracting of male and female staff and 10% of its workforce is made up of immigrants.

PROSSIMA APERTURA " ME LONDON HOTEL "

2012 apertura dell’Hotel ME London

Londra.- L’Hotel ME London, della catena alberghiera spagnola Sol Meliá, che è in fase di costruzione a partire della ristrutturazione dell’antica sede del City Bank, potrebbe essere pronto nel 2012, secondo informazioni fornite dal gruppo.
L’hotel, della marca ME by Melià, la marca di lusso più innovatrice e di avanguardia della Sol Melià, è stato disegnato dal britannico Norman Foster, premio Pritzker d’Architettura e premio Principe di Asturias delle Arti. Ubicato nel nucleo turistico, sociale e di affari di Londra, vicino al Covent Garden eal Trafalgar Square, nel distretto Holborn, l’albergo dispone di 10 piani di stanze e altri quattro interrati.
L’installazione disporrà di 173 stanze (di quattro categorie), una Sala di Convegni di 730 metri quadri, ristoranti e bar tanto per uomini di affari come per turisti. Il ME London è il secondo albergho della Sol Melià a Londra. Circa un decennio fa, la catena ha inaugurato il Melià White House, nel Regent’s Park.
Il palazzo, che fu la sede del City Bank, è stato acquistato ad ANIDA, società del Gruppo BBVA,per 133milioni di euro, è stato ristrutturato e verrà trasformato in un albergo a un costo di 52milioni di euro. Oltre al ME London, la marca ME by Melià ha piantato la bandiera anche a Madrid, Barcellona e nel Messico e a breve lo farà anche a Vienna, Austria. (Fonte: Sol Meliá)

 

 

CHE BELLO POTER DIRE CHE IL TEAM DI "AP MONTAGGI SRL" HA CONTRIBUITO

 

ALLA SUA REALIZZAZIONE...