Field of dreams
Da Vere is hoping to hold conferences, concerts and weddings as well
as all types of sporting events at the stadium complex (above)
Roland Ayling (left) is a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan. So it pains him to admit he is wholeheartedly rooting for another First Division team, Bolton Wanderers, to be promoted to the Premier Division. As general manager of De Vere Whites hotel, which is part of the Bolton Wanderers Reebok Stadium, Ayling estimates promotion could add up to £3m in revenue to his hotel and conference business.
"My very future could depend on their going up. I don't want to count my chickens, but it is hard not to get excited, especially as Bolton are now in second place," says Ayling.
The 125-bedroom hotel, which opened in early November 2000, has 19 bedrooms with views of the football pitch in a 30,000-seat stadium. But Ayling isn't just in charge of the bedrooms. He is responsible for marketing, selling and catering at the 3,000sq ft Middlebrook Exhibition Centre, which can seat 1,000 banqueting-style, has eight suites seating 200-550 theatre-style, and 47 syndicate rooms with pitch views.
The complex could be in big demand should Bolton find themselves playing the likes of Arsenal or Liverpool next season.
For example, 11 of the pitch-view rooms can be converted into corporate boxes, selling for £1,500 for 24 hours' hire, including lunch and tea for eight people. The bedrooms currently sell for a rack rate of £95-£105.
De Vere has invested £13m in the hotel (left) through a joint venture company set up with Bolton Wanderers' owner Burnden Leisure. De Vere runs the hotel and conferencing under management contract. In addition, it gets 20% of the profit.
"This is the first fully integrated football and conference stadium hotel in the UK with direct access to the pitch," says Paul Dermody, chief executive of De Vere Group.
Even without Bolton in the Premier Division, Ayling is looking at a first-year turnover of £6.8m for the hotel and conference business. Occupancy was budgeted at 72%, but Ayling says anything above 60% will be seen as successful. The average achieved room rate is forecast to be £67.42 for 2001. Forecast operating profit in the first year is £1m.
One critical factor to success will be the ability to sell the meeting and conference space. To do this, Ayling is spending £250,000 on making the exhibition centre more acceptable to corporate conference planners. "This was an existing venue when we arrived, but the fabric needs work - it needs carpet, proper blinds and curtains, lighting, tables and chairs. It is not conducive to the market we are aiming for, so I'm trying to change that," he says.
Ayling estimates that conference business will eventually account for 65% of the hotel's revenue. Events such as concerts will help, and seven of the suites are licensed for civil weddings.
"We will be able to accommodate larger conferences than the town currently enjoys. It's a pioneering scheme and we want it to be first choice for conferences, weddings, receptions and those special events," he says.
Playing a role in most of the hotel's activities will be the catering, supervised by executive chef Brian Ward. He oversees seven kitchens and 31 chefs when at full capacity, looking after the fine-dining of everything from the 60-seat Reflections restaurant - with pitch views - to the sausages sold from carts on match days.
Ward estimates it is possible to feed 3,000 at the same time. His sous chef Paul Hoad is in charge of Reflections and the 180-seat Brasserie at Whites.
It is the first new-build hotel De Vere has opened in six years, and the bedrooms reflect a change to the traditional style. The six suites feature light-wood headboards, bold colours and some innovative room layout. In 11 of the pitch-view rooms, beds fold away into the walls to allow for conversion to a corporate box.
But there is one feature these rooms don't have - one-way glass. Urban myth or clever publicity has it that when the Skydome in Toronto, Canada, opened its integrated hotel in 1989, some fans at a baseball match were diverted by a more interesting game. Through the window of one of the hotel's bedrooms a couple were seen engaging in a little more than eating their hotdogs.
Ayling pauses when he hears this story. "Perhaps we should advise guests that drawing their curtains is optional," he chuckles.
THE REEBOK STADIUM
De Vere Whites hotel is on the southern side of the Reebok Stadium, 500 metres off junction 6 of the M61. The building was voted British Architects' Building of the Year in 1998. Departing from the classic English rectangular design, the stadium has the US-style oval footprint, and at £35m is the most expensive stadium to be built in England.
The stadium is part of a 200-acre, £200m development within a retail park, which includes Asda, Boots, Hitachi and Reebok offices.
Bolton Wanderers moved out of Burnden Park, the old city-centre stadium, during the 1997-98 season when they were in the Premier Division. Unfortunately, the promotion was short-lived and a year later they were back in the First Division.
FACTS:
De Vere Whites hotel
Burnden Way, Lostock, Bolton
Tel: 01204 667788
E-mail: whites@devere-hotels.com
Web site: www.devere.com
Owners: Joint venture De Vere Group and Burnden Leisure
Investment: £13m
Forecast turnover year one: £6.8m
Forecast average achieved room rate: £67.42
Forecast occupancy year one: more than 60%
General manager: Roland Ayling
Executive chef: Brian Ward
Bedrooms: 125
Pitch-view rooms: 19
Conference rooms: eight, with 47 syndicate rooms and a 3,000sq ft exhibition hall
Kitchens: seven
TORONTO'S SKYDOME
Claiming firsts is always a danger, but the world's first fully-integrated hotel in a domed sports facility is said to be the 348-bedroom hotel at the Skydome in Toronto, Canada, which opened in June 1989.
Renaissance Toronto hotel at Skydome, part of Marriott Hotel and Resorts, took on the management contract early in 2000.
The hotel boasts 70 bedrooms with views of the stadium.
From the comfort of their bedroom, sports fans can watch the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball, catch the American football team the Toronto Argonauts, or see music acts such as the Rolling Stones and, more recently, Ricky Martin.
On non-match days prices for stadium-view rooms start from Cdn$190 (£85) for a double room, but supplements of up to 50% on big match days increase this dramatically. For example, a split-level suite will cost Cdn$979 (£438) for 24 hours, holding 10-15 people and including Cdn$200 (£89) worth of food during the match.
The Reebok Stadium (above) is the UK's most expensive stadium and follows the US oval-style design
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 18-24 January 2001
