Blue Rainbow Aparthotels reveals ambitious roll-out plan

INDEPENDENT Manchester hospitality company Blue Rainbow Aparthotels has revealed ambitious growth plans which will see it invest more than £20m in new openings in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.

The investment over the next 18 months will add a further 560 rooms and see it offer dining services to guests for the first time. It will then be followed by moves into Birmingham and Newcastle.

The group plans to grows its annual turnover from just over £4m this year to nearly £13m in 2017.

Founded in 2005 Blue Rainbow is the brainchild of managing director Will Hannah and Jason Abbott, operations director. It currently has 128 rooms at two sites in Manchester and one in Edinburgh.

Guests – mostly corporate customers and weekend city breakers – are offered  four and five star accommodation in luxury apartments which feature WIFI, DVD players, on-site gyms, kitchens with welcome packs including fresh bread and milk, and also complimentary laundry facilities.

Mr Hannah, a former marketing consultancy boss in the corporate travel sector, told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We want to take Blue Rainbow to the next stage over the coming years. We have a proven concept and offer and our existing apartments are fully booked, it’s the right time to grow, we’re very excited.

“The first phase of our expansion will see us add a third Manchester site. We are very close to agreeing terms on a building which we will convert into 52 apartments and 225 hotel rooms – which is a new concept for us, as is the addition of a food and beverage offer, which we are refining now.”

He said the Manchester project would cost around £11m, excluding the property lease. The hotel element will open in the third quarter of 2014 with the apartments nine months later.

In Leeds there will be investment of around £10m in a city centre hotel with 145 rooms and tow restaurants to open mid 2014. A second phase will add 8-10,000sq ft conference space too.

The Liverpool project will consist of 60 apartments and 30 hotel beds, Mr Hannah added.

The expansion plan will be funded from Blue Rainbow’s existing facilities, the directors said.

Blue Rainbow’s strong operational performance is evidenced by results for June from the STR Report, a hotel industry performance reporting tool.

The results show that Blue Rainbow out-performed its competitors in Manchester, by growing its market share and occupancy levels.
 
Mr Hannah added: “We pride ourselves on offering a home-from-home experience for both business guests and those on a weekend city break and believe this report confirms our increased market share when it comes to providing quality accommodation.”