Leading hotel brand comes to resort

BLACKPOOL Central Hotel, part of Barnsley-based property company The Brook Group, is opening a new hotel in the seaside resort after agreeing a franchise deal with Accor.

Accor is viewed by many as the world’s leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe.

Under the franchise agreement, Blackpool Central Hotels, has turned the former Travelodge Blackpool Central Hotel on Talbot Square, which it owns, into an ibis Styles hotel.

ibis Styles describes itself as “a designer economy brand for business and leisure travellers”.

The Blackpool hotel, housed in a grade two-listed building, offers 90 rooms.

After the Travelodge entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) last September, Blackpool Central Hotel appointed Focus Hotels Management to find a new operator for the hotel.

Focus consequently agreed a franchise arrangement with Ibis Styles hotels.

Matthew Stephens, of Blackpool Central Hotel, said: “We are delighted to have achieved such a seamless transition between hotel operators. It is a real coup to have secured an ibis Styles hotel as an operator given their scale and expertise.”

Accor has nearly 3,500 hotels and 160,000 employees in 92 countries.