West End landmark Trocadero to be turned into budget hotel
THE TROCADERO in Piccadilly is to be given a makeover after Europe’s largest hotelier Accor announced yesterday it had struck a deal to turn the famous West End landmark into a budget three-star hotel.
Owners Criterion Capital, run by property magnate Asif Aziz, have already begun work on redeveloping the building into a 583-room hotel, with shops on the ground floor.
It will open in 2017 and will be run by Accor under a franchise agreement as an Ibis hotel.
The Trocadero has housed everything from tennis courts, theatres, restaurants and music halls since it was built in the 17th century. Criterion bought the site in 2005 and originally planned to turn it into a “pod” style hotel with residential complex.
Accor will also turn part of Criterion Capital’s Victory House overlooking Leicester Square into an upmarket 80-room McGallery Hotel, which will open in 2016.
The company’s UK managing director, Thomas Dubaere, said: “The hotels will take inspiration from the buzz and excitement of Soho – the most vibrant neighbourhood in the world – and will bring a new lease of life to these historically significant London sites.”
Accor, which also owns the Mercure and Novotel brands, has 48 hotels in London and 208 across the UK, which it hopes to increase to 300 by 2018. Last month the group announced it has bought 13 UK hotels in a £71m deal with Tritax.