City Inn rebrands as Mint Hotel in advance of opening two new hotels.

Embargo: 0700 hours Monday 29 November 2010. City Inn [http://www.minthotel.com/index.html] has rebranded as Mint Hotel in advance of opening two new hotels in prime locations in London [http://www.minthotel.com/toweroflondon/london-hotels.htm] and Amsterdam [http://www.minthotel.com/amsterdam/amsterdam-hotels.htm] nearly doubling the number of rooms. Mint Hotel will open a second London property of 583 rooms at the Tower of London, in Pepys Street (EC3) on 20th December 2010 and is expanding overseas for the first time with a new hotel of 553 rooms opening in Amsterdam in Spring 2011.

The Founders of City Inn recognised that there was a misperception of the brand in the marketplace - that did not match the exceptional customer approval of City Inn. Backed by professional research it was clear that the name did not do justice to the overall experience of the brand, which has built its reputation on offering outstanding quality, innovation, exemplary customer service and good value for money. City Inn’s Trip Advisor’s rankings are amongst the highest of any brand collectively. The research conducted by BDRC confirmed customers’ experiences of the 4-star hotels as being ‘stylish, modern, contemporary, good value and upmarket’, contrasting with the more general market perceptions of the brand name which did not convey the quality of the offer to those who had not experienced it.

Sandy Orr, Executive Chairman and Co-founder Mint Hotel commented: “Our business was created from scratch, it was designed to be a forward-looking, innovative City Centre hotel brand. Now, with the opening of two new world-class hotels in the most exceptional locations in the City of London and Amsterdam we recognised it was time to give our company the branding it deserved.”

David Orr, Chief Executive and Co-founder added: “We are delighted to rebrand as Mint Hotel in Bristol, Glasgow, Birmingham, London (Westminster), Manchester and Leeds at the same time as unveiling our exceptional new properties at the Tower of London before Christmas and in Amsterdam in the Spring.

“Mint Hotel gives us an instantly memorable identity to embrace the quality and modernity of what we do and reflects the brand’s sector-leading qualities paving the way for the growth of our business. Mint Hotel reflects our commitment to exceptional modern buildings, service culture and ethos. We believe it will resonate well with our current guests, reflecting our true position as a class leading, innovative and stylish City Centre hotel brand. The hotel business has a full part to play in the economic and social fabric of our cities and we are delighted to be at the forefront of this with our new hotels and new brand.”

In terms of priorities, the research reinforced that services and amenities at the hotel and location are the most important factors when considering why to book, followed by online ratings and reviews. Free high-speed internet and Wifi access in guest rooms and public areas was next, all of which are standard at Mint Hotel[http://www.minthotel.com/hotelvideos/index.html]. Online, guests clearly use hotels’ own websites as the most important source to consider their choices. Offline, personal recommendation continues to outrank any other form of resource or influence. Mint Hotel inherits an exceptional legacy of propensity to personally recommend.

With all its properties custom-built, Mint Hotel has been consistently innovative in its hotel designs. The pioneering SkyLounge concept, originated in Westminster and Manchester and developed in Leeds, animates publicly accessible city roofline with terraces, private dining and meeting rooms and an exclusive destination bar. Tower of London SkyLounge [http://www.minthotel.com/toweroflondon/skylounge.htm] will have uninterrupted views of the Tower as well as meeting and private dining rooms, extensive roof gardens (including a residents accessible roof garden), all with sensational views and seating areas lined with herbs for the City’s most spectacular Al Fresco terrace . Fenchurch Lounge will provide a stylish Lounge Bar for EC3 on the newly pedestrianised Savage Gardens and City Café, overlooking Crutched Friars, brings a large modern British Brasserie style to the Trinity Square area. As standard in every room, Mint Hotel has a fully functioning iMac with Skype and free satellite TV as well as complimentary video library. All hotels have free to use Wifi throughout.

Mint Hotels has properties in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow. www.minthotel.com.

Mint Hotel is a brand of modern, stylish city centre hotels, originally founded in 1995 by Sandy Orr, David Orr and Donald MacDonald. Mint Hotel, the rebranded City Inn, first opened in Bristol in 1999 and today offers six hotels across the UK with a total of 1647 rooms and over 800 employees in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds.

The multi award-winning hotel group [http://www.minthotel.com/aboutus/index.htm] rebranded in November 2010 in advance of opening a second London hotel in the City of London (December 2010) and their first international property in Amsterdam (Spring 2011), bringing the total number of rooms to 2783 with up to 1500 employees in eight hotels.

Mint Hotel presents guests with a fresh, contemporary hotel experience, where a commitment to innovation and putting customers first remains at the heart of the brand’s values. Mint Hotel provides an iMac in each guest room, free Wifi and great places to dine and relax as standard, along with an uncompromising approach to quality and service. Meetings and events at Mint Hotel happen in the prime naturally lit areas of the buildings giving enjoyable as well as practical and productive flexible spaces for all business needs. With Wifi free throughout within Mint Hotel, every space is a place where you can work or relax connected to anywhere in the world.

About us:
www.minthotel.com

A video news release is available (contacts below)

Further information
Jo Johnson/Russell Ison/Jessica Hailstone at bgb on tel: +44 (0)2079022990 or jjohnson/rison/jhailstone@bgb.co.uk

Mint Hotel is a brand of modern, stylish city centre hotels, originally founded in 1995 by Sandy Orr, David Orr and Donald MacDonald. Mint Hotel, the rebranded City Inn, first opened in Bristol in 1999 and today offers six hotels across the UK with a total of 1647 rooms and over 800 employees in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds.

The multi award-winning hotel group [http://www.minthotel.com/aboutus/index.htm] rebranded in November 2010 in advance of opening a second London hotel in the City of London (December 2010) and their first international property in Amsterdam (Spring 2011), bringing the total number of rooms to 2783 with up to 1500 employees in eight hotels.

Mint Hotel presents guests with a fresh, contemporary hotel experience, where a commitment to innovation and putting customers first remains at the heart of the brand’s values. Mint Hotel provides an iMac in each guest room, free Wifi and great places to dine and relax as standard, along with an uncompromising approach to quality and service. Meetings and events at Mint Hotel happen in the prime naturally lit areas of the buildings giving enjoyable as well as practical and productive flexible spaces for all business needs. With Wifi free throughout within Mint Hotel, every space is a place where you can work or relax connected to anywhere in the world.

About us www.minthotel.com

A video news release is available (contacts below)

Further information
Jo Johnson/Russell Ison/Jessica Hailstone at bgb on tel: +44 (0)2079022990 or jjohnson/rison/jhailstone@bgb.co.uk

MINT HOTEL HEAD OFFICE
3rd Floor, Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
London, SW1P 4QP

This release was published on openPR.