Hotel news: Marriott hits Brighton, Hilton hitting Dover – and what a difference ….

Hotel news in brief:

Marriott opens a Four Points Flex hotel in Brighton

Whilst Hilton and IHG are well represented in Brighton (although the less said about the Holiday Inn the better), Marriott has had no presence there – until now.

A Four Point Flex hotel has just opened on the seafront – website here – in what was previously the Kings Hotel.

Four Points Flex is the equivalent of Hilton’s Spark or IHG’s Garner. The big hotel brands have realised that, with the middle and upper / luxury markets getting saturated, the only way is down.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this. I am a fan of Premier Inn, where you will often find rooms which outclass your average four star hotel for a fraction of the price. I have a soft spot for ibis Styles too. I also like Moxy – I’m in one next week and I’ve taken my family to them. YOTEL, Bloc etc have shown that you can do a very acceptable level of quality for a low price.

Four Points Flex has some decent UK conversions too – YOTEL Shoreditch moved over, as did the Sleeperz chain. These are generally modern but low cost hotels which sit perfectly well inside the big brands.

A line has to be drawn somewhere though. Let’s look at Four Points Flex Brighton:

This picture is from the official Marriott website. It’s not an old one I found online – it is currently being used to promote the hotel. If I show you the outside:

…. you can tell its your typical British seaside hotel, the sort which has been wiped out in many places as Premier Inn etc have moved in.

From a pure loyalty point of view, you should give Four Points Flex a miss. You only get 0.5 elite qualifying nights per night, rounded down. This means that a one night stay earns nothing towards status.

You also only earn half-points, so just 5 per $1 spent compared to the usual 10.

For comparison, IHG gives full points and full elite night credit at Garner and Hilton gives full points and full elite night credit at Spark.

The Four Points Flex Brighton website is here if you want to give it a go.

Hilton is coming to Dover – and it looks great

When I heard that Hilton was opening a seafront hotel in Dover in November, I had a vision of what it would be like – and it was a bit like the Brighton images above. I’m delighted to say I was wrong.

The Dover Marina Hotel & Spa, Tapestry Collection by Hilton was previously a Best Western but has undergone a huge refurbishment.

Tapesty Collection is the four star equivalent of Hilton’s five star Curio Collection. It is a group of hotels which share a similar level of quality but are independently run and are not tied down to specific brand standards.

The images online look great – two are shown above (the room shown is obviously a suite, not a standard room) – and hopefully it can play a part in improving tourism in the town. There is even a Marco Pierre White-overseen restaurant.

You can find out more, and book for stays from 1st November, on this page of the Hilton website.