The first major hotel to open in Plymouth for more than a decade has welcomed its first guests – but many rooms will remain closed until the Covid-19 crisis eases.
The 94-room OYO Plymouth Central hotel in the city centre has entered a “soft opening phase” from December 3, 2020. The hotel, on New George Street, is situated above the Poundland and PEP&CO retail stores, occupying 50,000ft2 over two storeys.
Before being converted into a hotel this year, the building was used as office spac, and for many years before that it was the open-plan stockroom for Plymouth’s branch of Woolworths.
The site was bought and developed into a three-star hotel by Red Lions Estate Ltd, which will operate the property in partnership with hotel brand OYO, with OYO providing services including revenue management, customer services, technology and brand.
The general manager of OYO Plymouth Central is Janice Carpenter - a familiar face on the Plymouth hospitality scene having held roles at Future Inns and Novotel Plymouth over the past 20 years. The hotel will employ 16 staff during its soft opening period.
“Since 2018, OYO has entered into partnership with over 250 established independent hotels in the UK, so we’re delighted to now be working with Red Lions Estate to bring a brand new property to the market,” said Rishabh Gupta, head of OYO UK & Europe.
“Its central location, flexible room options and affordable price point suit a variety of different guests and we believe that OYO Plymouth Central will become a flagship property both for OYO UK and for the city.”
Zul Virani from Red Lions Estate said: “As a coastal destination, a university city, a business centre, a hub for major events and with a military heritage that dates back several centuries, we saw an enticing opportunity to expand upon the tourism infrastructure in Plymouth.
“Our experience in high quality real estate development combined with OYO’s expertise in hospitality has led to the creation of an attractive new accommodation option for visitors; and being right in the heart of the city, we’re also confident the hotel’s footfall will bring value to neighbouring businesses and retailers in Plymouth city centre.”
OYO Plymouth Central is the first sizable new hotel to open in Plymouth since Jurys Inn started trading in 2007. Another new arrival, a Premier Inn, being constructed just opposite on the site of the former Riley’s Sports Bar. .
During its first phase, the OYO hotel has opened 54 en-suite rooms offering double, twin, triple and quadruple occupancy. Included in this number are seven accessible rooms which include wet rooms and can accommodate up to four guests.
The 40 remaining rooms will sleep between two and six guests and have access to shared bathroom facilities with individual lockable shower units and lockers.
Given the current impact of Coronavirus on group travel, the decision has been taken to open these rooms at a later date, in line with demand.
The hotel has free, fast broadband connection throughout and each room contains a 43-inch Smart TV so guests can log-in to on-demand streaming services such as Netflix.
There is a large skylit-room where continental breakfast will be served, a further communal lounge/seating area, plus a number of “business pods’”available for hotel guests.
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On the top floor of the hotel, a large guest lounge exclusively for top floor guests is currently under development, providing a further area for rest and relaxation.
With many major events cancelled during 2020 due to the pandemic, Plymouth is looking forward to welcoming back an increased number of visitors next year.
In 2021, the city will go ahead with postponed commemorations marking the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower, as well as hosting SailGP’s Season 2 European debut and welcoming back popular annual events including the British Fireworks Championships.
Red Lions Estate specialises in office space, and had this in mind when it bought the property. But it was then approached by OYO Hotels, the “word’s fastest growing hotel chain”, which floated the idea of creating a hotel.
Construction began in November 2019 with reduced, socially distanced, teams of builders able to work on the project during the lockdown period.
