Whitbread Plc. brings £8.4 million investment to Edinburgh

Whitbread PLC has opened a new Premier Inn hotel on Edinburgh Princes Street. The hotel will create 32 jobs within the community, bringing a total of £8.4 million into the local economy.

The brand new 97 bedroom hotel is situated on Edinburgh's world famous Princes Street which enjoys fabulous views of the very picturesque and historic Edinburgh Castle. A short walk from Edinburgh Waverley Rail Station in the heart of Edinburgh's city centre, the new Premier Inn is ideal for both leisure and business travellers alike.

Alisa Riva, Manager of Premier Inn hotel on Princes Street Edinburgh commented: "We are delighted to welcome another hotel to the capital. The fantastic location and incredible views of the castle means it's perfectly situated for all types of guests whether they are here for business or leisure. Premier Inn Edinburgh Princes Street provides guests with affordable accommodation that does not compromise on quality and we look forward to welcoming guests from March."

Each bedroom caters for up to two adults and two children (aged 15 and under) and includes an en-suite bathroom; a king size bed; remote control TV with Freeview; tea/coffee making facilities, and a spacious desk area with Wi-Fi Internet access. The site will also offer the 'Premier Breakfast'.

Premier Inn offers all guests a no quibble 'Good Night Guarantee' which means if customers are not 100% satisfied with their stay, they will get their money back.

Thistle Hotels wins five golds

Thistle hotels has struck gold by receiving five accolades at The Scottish Hotel Awards 2011. The prestigious ceremony, dubbed 'The Scottish Hotel Oscars', was held in Thistle Glasgow's ornate Grand Ballroom, the perfect setting for the evening as it was awarded the prize of Function Venue of the Year.

It was an extremely successful night for Thistle, as its Aberdeen Altens hotel won a gold medal in the Business Performance Award, while Thistle Aberdeen Airport scooped the Events and Parties Award in the medium venue category.

The awards didn't stop there, however! For Thistle's Aberdeen properties, as individual gold medals were also awarded in the manager category to Alison Christie from Aberdeen Airport and Stephen Gow from Aberdeen Altens.

The Scottish Hotel Awards event is held annually, not only to celebrate and encourage excellence in the hotel industry but also to raise funds for Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scotland. Each year, the judging panel of the awards receive thousands of nominations from both industry professionals and members of the public, and all honours are independently researched ahead of the big night.

Ewing Stewart, Thistle's regional operations director for Scotland Hotels said: "I'm absolutely thrilled with the success of our Scottish team, not just for the group and individual awards won but also for the fantastic effort made to host the ceremony. It was an enjoyable evening held in the best of spirits and we were very pleased to be able to support both the awards team and HIT Scotland. I'm extremely proud of all our winners and would like to congratulate everyone involved."

UK coach tours growing in popularity

Door2Tour.com, the website-based tour consolidator, has released new figures that show 'Staycations' are likely to be around for a long time to come as they report a sales increase of 65% in bookings for UK coach breaks.

This could be down to the surge in Internet searches for UK coach holidays and day trips proving that more customers are opting for staycations rather than European coach tours, as they are likely to get a much better deal and possibly avoid unnecessary travelling hassle.(EDITOR: Perhaps people are realising there's more than enough to see and enjoy within the UK, too?)

The popularity for UK coach breaks is significantly high for the first three months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010 with traditional seaside resorts such as the Isle of Wight and Torquay proving to be popular holiday destinations. The rise in interest for UK coach breaks could be down to some of the major Travel Companies introducing fuel surcharges on their overseas tours and this could be one of the reasons why Door2Tour.com has noticed a decline in interest for European and Worldwide breaks.

Compared to UK coach holidays achieving an increase in sales of 65% in the first 3 months of 2011, there was only an 8% rise in European breaks whilst holidays to worldwide destinations only received an increase in sales of 1%. The addition of fuel surcharges is quite possibly one of the main reasons why customers are opting for coach travel and for UK coach breaks compared to holidays overseas but other factors could be the current financial unrest in Euro-zone favourites such as Portugal, Greece and Ireland as well as the poor exchange rates for the Euro and Sterling.

Rachel Jones, Online PR & Marketing Co-ordinator, for Door2Tour.com said: "It certainly looks like staycations are here to stay if our recent sales figures are anything to go by. UK coach breaks remain popular with many of our customers booking holidays to traditional seaside resorts such as the Isle of Wight, Torquay, Newquay, Eastbourne and Scarborough as opposed to overseas."

It's not just coach holidays in England that have seen a rise in sales bookings, with event tour packages appearing to have helped boost visitor numbers to other areas of the UK. The Edinburgh Military Tattoo helped to increase interest in coach holidays in Scotland, represented by an increase in sales of 135% for the Military Event compared to the same period in 2010. Old favourites such as London city breaks and theatre breaks remain popular with a rise in sales of 77%. Other events such as the Chelsea Flower Show, Royal Ascot, Wimbledon and the Royal Wedding mean that London will be attracting a vast number of visitors during 2011 - especially if the weather is good.

Rachel concluded: "Customers appear to be much more aware of potential risks when booking a holiday, and coach holidays minimise that risk. They will not be hit with any hidden extras such as airport taxes, car-parking fees etc as everything is included in one great-value price. Search trends for UK coach holidays on Google remain consistently high, which just goes to show that more and more customers are seeing coach holidays as a much more reliable way to travel."

About Door2Tour.com:
Door2Tour.com is a consolidation of national and regional tour operators creating a diverse choice of UK, European and worldwide touring holidays including coach holidays in Ireland, events packages, theatre breaks, cruises and holidays by air to many exciting destinations. All have live availability and offer the customer the opportunity to book online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.