Hopes to attract international hotel chain to city

There are aspirations to attract an international hotel chain to Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton hopes to attract an international hotel brand to the city in order to grow its business and leisure economy.

Council chiefs are striving to encourage more visitors to make weekend and overnight stays, but have said the lack of a large chain means the city loses out to its neighbours.

Hilton, Accor, Marriott, and Radisson are said to be among brands to have shown an interest in operating in Wolverhampton.

Business, leisure, and tourism bosses said they were eager to capitalise on recent success stories that had helped boost regeneration in the city, including the reopening of The Halls and the arrival of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Head of city development, Richard Lawrence, said that attracting an international hotel brand to Wolverhampton was key to encouraging interest from outside investors.

In a report to the council’s economy and growth scrutiny panel, which will address the matter on 7 February, Mr Lawrence said: “Wolverhampton is lacking the presence of a good quality hotel offer and demand is being displaced to hotels outside of the city.

"We know there is already an existing demand from both the leisure, tourism and corporate market."

Mr Lawrence said The Halls had already generated "well in excess" of £1.6m for the city economy and were expected to attract upwards of 300,000 visitors a year.

“Wolverhampton Wanderers Molineux football ground has a capacity of 32,000 which generates huge footfall in the city centre, and the yearly estimate for visitors to the Grand Theatre is around 300,000 patrons,” he added.

'Strong interest'

Mr Lawrence said that a number of international brands, including Hilton, Accor, Marriott, and Radisson, had shown a "strong interest" in operating a hotel in Wolverhampton.

Other operators who had shown an interest, according to Mr Lawrence, included Legacy Hotels and Resorts, Aimbridge Hospitality, RBH, and Kew Green.

Mr Lawrence said there was a limited pipeline of hotel schemes and that an international brand would have a wider economic impact in the city, including a positive influence on the night-time economy.

He concluded: "We will continue aspiring to attract a high-quality hotel provision to the city and exploring potential options in light of difficult local government funding challenges in moving forward.”

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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