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UK: The Edinburgh Collection has signed a franchise agreement with Choice Hotels International to become the first UK member of the Ascend Hotel Collection.
UK: The Edinburgh Collection has signed a franchise agreement with Choice Hotels International to become the first UK member of the Ascend Hotel Collection.
The Edinburgh Collection owns four properties in the Scottish capital: The Howard, Channings, The Old Waverley and the Holyrood Aparthotel.
With immediate effect The Howard and Channings will join the Choice Hotels European portfolio and be the first in the UK to become Ascend Hotel Collection members, Choice’s most upscale hotel offering.
Ricky Kapoor, commercial director at The Edinburgh Collection, said: “Joining Choice’s Ascend Hotel Collection enables us to maintain autonomy and the hotels’ distinctiveness while leveraging Choice’s industry leading technology, marketing and distribution to optimise demand for the hotels and generate more revenue. This will not only benefit our own business, but with increased occupancy rates we will be bringing more business and leisure travellers to spend their money in Edinburgh.”
The Howard is a five-star Edinburgh hotel that occupies three Georgian townhouses in the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town. Its bedrooms, suites and two bedroom serviced apartment Mews Cottage are served by a collection of butlers, who take care of everything from valet parking to ironing to late-night room service to theatre bookings.
Channings Hotel comprises a number of townhouses, one of which was home to Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer.
The Ascend Hotel Collection was launched in 2008 and now has 148 hotels globally.
“The launch of the Ascend Hotel Collection here in Edinburgh is part of our strategy to continue diversifying our portfolio and provide the UK with a new upscale hotel offering. These two Edinburgh properties, which perfectly fit the Ascend Hotel Collection portfolio, give us a critical foothold in the UK that will support the accelerated rollout of the Ascend Hotel Collection in the UK and across Europe. We are delighted to welcome both the The Howard and Channings Hotel as the first UK Ascend Hotel Collection members,” said Mark Pearce, senior vice president, international division, for Choice Hotels.
www.thedinburghcollection.com
www.choicehotels.com/ascend
