Playful hotels pioneer premieres Treehouse concept in Manchester

Raul Leal, something of a visionary in the hotels world, was in Manchester this week to oversee the launch of the quirky Treehouse Hotel, on the site of the old Marriott Renaissance, close to Manchester Cathedral and Harvey Nichols.

Only the second Treehouse Hotel in the UK, following an opening in London’s elegant Marylebone in 2019, just up the road from the BBC, it’s a startling transformation that he says is a testament to the local partnerships he’s built up in Manchester to deliver the hotel, which plays to shifts in how hotel operators position their brands.

Lemm Sissay

The hotel opens with 200 treehouse-inspired guest rooms including three accessible rooms, eight suites and a Treetop Suite queued up for later this year. Star of the launch was poet Lemm Sissay, former Chancellor of the University of Manchester, who produced a poem for the opening.

Though an urban hotel it attempts to reconnect with nature, explore city culture, and indulge in moments of fun and nostalgia with the backdrop of whimsical interiors, eco-conscious design, and an array of social spaces, including rooftop hives for over 20,000 bees, producing the hotel’s own honey.

Leal says he bases that on his 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry, and the Miami-based CEO of Starwood Hotels, a diverse collection of global luxury and lifestyle brands, says Manchester is perfect for the concepts he’s exploring.

He launched and grew Virgin Hotels, where he served as CEO for over eight years and secured over $500 million in debt and equity to support existing and future projects. Now working alongside Barry Sternlicht, founder of Starwood Capital, Leal has been tasked with developing the Starwood Hotels and Resorts business with its core brands 1 Hotels, a nature-inspired lifestyle brand; Baccarat Hotels & Resorts, a luxury brand with projects under development in Rome, Florence, Dubai, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Brickell (Miami), and Maldives; and Treehouse.

He also spearheaded the design and product innovation process, and while he says he delivered a “groundbreaking guest room experience” while at Virgin, Treehouse is similarly trying something different and Leal says he’s challenging traditional hospitality models with a strategy that blends sustainability, local culture, and what he calls “care freedom”.

The Treehouse concept emerged from a recognition that modern travellers want more than just a place to sleep. “It’s about creating an environment that feels like the carefree enclave you might have built as a child,” Leal explains.

This philosophy translates into hotels that he says are “playful, cheeky, and deeply integrated with their local communities”.

With only three Treehouse hotels currently operational – London, Silicon Valley and now Manchester, he plans to add one annually with plans in Brickell (Miami); Riyadh (Saudi Arabia); and Adelaide (Australia). Leal is deliberately taking a measured approach. “We’re not trying to create 1,000 hotels,” he says. “We want a collection of unique properties that genuinely reflect today’s consumers.”

Treehouse Hotel Manchester, (Photo by Simon Brown Photography)

Those consumers, Leal observes, are increasingly seeking experiences over mere accommodation. The rise of “bleisure” travel – blending business and leisure – has transformed hospitality expectations, he says. Travelers now want spaces that can seamlessly transition from work to play, with flexible environments that offer multiple interaction points.

The Manchester Treehouse exemplifies this approach, he says. Located in the converted Marriott Renaissance, the hotel is true to Leal’s commitment to local partnership and cultural integration, working with local construction partners Alex and Victoria Russell from Property Alliance on the final piece of the regeneration jigsaw after the IRA bomb of 1996.

A visionary plan has been unveiled to transform the final piece of Manchester city centre, which was devastated by the IRA bomb in 1996.

It’s a key part of a wider £210m mixed-use project that will also soon add a residential tower comprising 300 apartments, as well as a 50,000 sq ft office building, with retail and leisure space on the ground floor spanning 10,000 sq ft. opening up Deansgate to the river and connecting it to the Cathedral Quarter.

The hotel itself has seen the Starwood team collaborating with local design agency 93 Feet, culinary partner Mary Ellen McTague, and entertainment experts Luke Una and Justin Crawford, who have curated the Refuge space at the Kimpton (formerly the Palace) and Freight Island. McTague’s restaurant – Pip by Mary-Ellen McTague – promises to showcase local culinary talent.

“We’re not parachuting in,” Leal emphasizes. “We’re becoming part of the community.”

The Manchester general manager is Tim Reynolds who joined from the Kimpton and on a tour of the rooms he describes the wood and patchwork quilt styles of the room as true to the carefree vibe.

Reynolds explained that rooms are designed “to make guests smile, with quirky features like bedside tables that don’t match, and a natural colour palette across everything,” he says. 

As for Manchester, Leal adds that he has been struck by the city’s energy, and wants to open up the space to the city’s business community.

“One of the differences between us and down the street, is this: you’re absolutely going to be able to have a great business meeting here. We have amazing meeting spaces, comfortable rooms, everything’s well lit properly for business, strong, strong Wi Fi, so that people can work in the public areas, all that kind of stuff, all the things they need, right?” 

It’s another example of the ‘bleisure’ concept he seems very keen on – “one of the things that you’ll see here with this hotel is that, opposed to any legacy hotel in the city, we will be packed on the weekends, because you will have couples that want to get away without the kids, and there will be all kinds of stuff happening inside the hotel.”

Treehouse Hotel Manchester will also offer a collection of versatile event spaces, also with playful touches and nature-inspired elements.