L-R Normand Bouvin, Sir Cliff Richard, Surinder Arora, Angela Brav, Nick Pattie, Kwasi Kwarteng MP
The Arora Group today (20 October) held an official Ground Breaking Ceremony for two new hotels at Heathrow Terminal 4, which will become the largest hotel development at the airport. These two hotels will help serve an expanding airport as the government look to grant the expansion of Runway 3.
The event, attended by key stakeholders from the Arora Group, their project partners Whitebridge Hospitality, an LJ Partnership, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), as well as executives from Heathrow Airport Ltd, marked the beginning of Arora Group’s construction of the new dual-brand Crowne Plaza® London - Heathrow Terminal 4 and Holiday Inn Express® London - Heathrow Terminal 4, which will take Arora Group’s hotel portfolio to 9 hotels in the UK.
The new hotels are being built by Grove Developments, the construction division of the Arora Group, and will operate under a franchise agreement with IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) managed by Arora Hotels, a division of the Arora Group.
Speaking at the ceremony, Surinder Arora, Founder and Chairman of the Arora Group, commented, “I am delighted to be here today to mark the official commencement of construction of our two new hotels, which will expand the footprint of the Arora Group at London Heathrow Airport from 1,434 bedrooms to 2,184 across five hotels.”
Arora continues, “After the successful launch of the InterContinental London – The O2, this dual-brand development presents us with another exciting opportunity to work in partnership with IHG to bring not one, but two, new hotels to London, and working in collaboration with LJ Partnership and Heathrow Airport Limited we’re looking forward to developing these two best-in-class hotels for our business and leisure guests and creating up to 350 new jobs for the local community.”
Robert Shepherd, Chief Development Officer, Europe, IHG, commented: “We are so pleased to be working together again with Arora Group on our second milestone development in a year, the first of course being the opening of InterContinental London – The O2. This year has been a brilliant one for IHG, particularly within the UK which remains our largest market in Europe with 29 hotels in the pipeline. The Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express brands are a seamless fit and we look forward to seeing how the two hotels complement each other in what we know is a successful dual branded model.”
Andrew Williams, Chief Executive Officer of LJ Partnership and Chairman of Whitebridge Hospitality, commented: “We’re thrilled to be taking the next steps in this exciting development with our partners the Arora Group. This development will add a significant number of hotel bedrooms and meeting facilities of exceptional quality to Heathrow and its direct link into Terminal 4 will provide multiple benefits to the growing number of visitors using the airport every year. In addition, with Arora’s proven construction expertise and success in hotel management - both at the UK’s busiest airports and in central London – we are confident of the hotel’s long term value as Heathrow continues to expand.”
Due to open in 2018, the upscale Crowne Plaza London ‒ Heathrow T4 will feature 300 bedrooms and provide first class facilities for business travellers, including five meeting rooms and two boardrooms. The adjoining 450-room Holiday Inn Express London ‒ Heathrow T4 will be a ‘next generation’ hotel for the brand, featuring the latest technology, an Express Café and Bar and larger, cosier beds.
Arora Group PR contacts: FTI Consulting
Tel: 0203 727 1000
Eleanor Purdon | Natalie McGuigan | Oli Winton
Email: AroraGroup@fticonsulting.com
Arora Hotels PR contacts: Davies Tanner
Tel: 01892 619100
Julia Gosling | Becca Krug | Arabella Halfhide | Nicole Moor
Email: arora@daviestanner.com
Notes to Editors
The Arora Group
The Arora Group is a successful UK-focused private group of companies, which leverages synergies across its specialist property, construction and hotel divisions to its strategic advantage. Since 1999, the Group has built its standing through meticulously managing projects from inception to delivery and beyond. Today, it owns and manages a diverse portfolio of flagship assets across the nation’s key business locations, partnering with some of the world’s most recognised brands to deliver consistently high service levels and sustainable growth. For more information please visit www.thearoragroup.com. @Arora_Group
Arora Hotels
Arora Hotels, a division of the Arora Group is one of the UK’s leading owner-operator of Hotels with expertise in airport and city centre hotel operations. Current hotels within the portfolio include Sofitel London Heathrow Terminal 5 and Sofitel London Gatwick (under a franchise agreement with Accor), Renaissance London Heathrow (under a franchise agreement with Marriott), Holiday Inn Heathrow Terminal 5 and the new InterContinental® London ‒ The O2, (under a franchise agreement with IHG), the Arora Hotel Gatwick/Crawley and the Hilton London Stansted Airport.
About IHG PLC
IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants, HUALUXE® Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, EVEN® Hotels, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®.
IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,000 hotels and nearly 750,000 guest rooms in almost 100 countries, with more than 1,400 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme, with more than 96 million members worldwide.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 350,000 people work across IHG’s hotels and corporate offices globally.
Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihg.com/media and follow us on social media at: www.twitter.com/ihg, www.facebook.com/ihg and www.youtube.com/ihgplc.
