We go behind the scenes as Blackpool's newest hotel - the £34million Holiday Inn, prepares for its big opening day
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:08 Blackpool has a brand new £34 million hotel.
00:12 [Music]
00:16 The Holiday Inn boasts 144 bedrooms, a fitness suite, business rooms and Marco
00:22 Pierre White's latest New York Italian restaurant, Marco's.
00:26 [Music]
00:34 The hotel contains 576 pillows, 72,000 millilitres of shower gel and with over 5,000 light bulbs
00:43 it might even give the world famous Illuminations a run for its money.
00:47 [Music]
00:53 Right next to the train station, the hotel even comes with its own brand new tram stop
00:57 making everything Blackpool has to offer more accessible than ever.
01:01 [Music]
01:06 Join us as we take a look behind the scenes as the management team
01:09 and new staff recruits get ready for the big opening day.
01:13 [Music]
01:29 Welcome to the Holiday Inn Blackpool where your holiday starts here.
01:35 [Background noise]
01:48 We're absolutely prepared for the opening so yes it's been a long time in the making
01:51 but we're absolutely delighted to get to this point.
01:55 We're in Blackpool so other openings that I've done have been in city centre locations
02:00 or sort of in more corporate areas, we're in Blackpool, a really diverse town.
02:06 So we've got a bit of corporate, we've got a little bit of leisure, we've got entertainment,
02:10 you know a fantastic market so I think the uniqueness comes from where we actually are
02:16 but also in terms of the little bit of creativity that we can do around the property
02:20 and with our recruitment and obviously bringing in the team and things like that
02:23 so I would say that it's very unique because of the market.
02:27 [Background noise]
02:30 I think in terms of this particular hotel being in Blackpool allows us to do things differently.
02:37 I mean you look around Blackpool now and if I look at 10 years ago Blackpool has changed,
02:42 you know we then have an international branded hotel that enters into the market,
02:46 you've got a celebrity chef restaurant that's entered into the market.
02:50 So actually with all of the investment and all of the different brands that are entering the market
02:55 it's up and coming, it's really exciting.
02:56 [Background noise]
03:02 So I'm Connor, I work at the Holiday Inn in Blackpool for the Marco Pierre White restaurants
03:07 and the Platform 9 bar. Today I'm going to be making you a very Blackpool themed cocktail
03:12 called the Kiss Me Quick. It starts off with a shot of Deserano, my personal favourite in anything.
03:21 To answer any Deserano in it is instantly my favourite cocktail.
03:25 12 and a half of Chambord and 25 of Cointreau all into a mixer.
03:33 We then add 12 and a half of sugar syrup just to give it a little sweet edge
03:42 and then we add 50 ml of cranberry and if I can actually remember to grab it we add some
03:52 lime juice, only 12 and a half in there. We give it a nice big smack and a good old shake.
04:00 [Sizzling]
04:05 Served off nicely in a glass with a little strawberry on top. There we are, the Kiss Me Quick.
04:22 Bringing on the team, there's been a lot of training, a lot of setting up,
04:29 we're literally hours away from opening so yeah really really good buzz,
04:36 good feel about the hotel at the moment.
04:38 Recruitment has been absolutely fantastic. 3,679 applications came through for 70 positions
04:52 and 97% are from Blackpool. So actually putting this hotel into this town has allowed that
05:00 proportion of people from the local area to start their career or continue their career in hospitality
05:06 and that is the proudest thing. Hotel looks stunning but the people, the campaign and
05:13 bringing that all together is absolutely you know quite emotional when you see it all come together
05:20 but yeah team members you know fantastic, recruitment campaign really showcased that
05:25 hospitality was recovering and is recovering and you know watching the team you know come together
05:32 now and you know have a bit of a laugh and start to do that training element of you know welcoming
05:37 a few guests in is really really fantastic to watch. Yeah so I've just started working here,
05:44 it's been about six weeks now since we first opened so the supervisors came in 18th of March
05:50 and then we had a few weeks before the whole team came in and so it's been about six weeks now but
05:55 it's been brilliant, it's been really good.
05:56 Training's been fantastic, I've never never known so much training really but in a good light,
06:09 in a good way because obviously it's a new hotel but it's also got a Marcos restaurant within it
06:15 and obviously we've got our own platform nine so there's been lots of brand specs and what Marcos
06:22 do and what they so we've all been trained profusely and efficiently and it's been brilliant
06:26 really and we're meeting loads of new people so we're networking a little bit with people coming
06:31 in from MPW and we had a gentleman today from Pernod Ritchie come in for a bar masterclass so
06:38 that it's been brilliant really.
06:40 But it's really really good, we're all excited, we're all ready and raring to go but
06:52 everybody is different, they're all versatile, the team is varied but they're all incredibly
07:00 amazing. They've all come into their own in these last few soft launches so we've been seeing them
07:06 throughout training just as themselves really and they're brilliant people but watching them
07:11 over the past 48 hours within the restaurant with the soft launches, 10 out of 10 for everybody
07:16 really, they've been amazing.
07:18 With it being Blackpool's first celebrity chef restaurant as well there is an abundance of
07:34 pressure but I like to say pressure makes diamonds, if you don't have the pressure then what are you
07:39 working towards really. At the start there will be a bit of pressure to live up to the name of
07:44 course, it's a huge name Marco Pierre White but I have no problems knowing that we'll exceed these
07:49 expectations. I can't wait to welcome Marco Pierre White to the restaurant and we've had a few calls
07:57 and emails from himself and he's really excited to come up. I think he'll think that it's an
08:02 absolute fantastic town and he's very vibrant and you know getting out there and visiting
08:09 the attractions and the people of Blackpool, he'll be really excited to do that.
08:13 I would say with any pre-opening you can plan, you can prepare but things will crop up, you know
08:30 deliveries will arrive when the deliveries weren't meant to arrive, you know certain things will have
08:35 to be changed and adapted along the way but I think what we always do at the end of the day
08:40 is debrief as a team and go, do you know what, yes that wasn't ideal but look at what we're creating
08:46 and every single day since you know we got the keys to the building we have seen this build you
08:52 know being created in terms of you know whether it's a case of the furniture going in to then the
08:58 soft furnishings going in to then the team members arriving. I'm ready to get rearing for when we open, yes.
09:06 Finally after months of preparation and training the team is in place and opening day has arrived.
09:14 Jack P Sheppard who plays David Platt in 'Coronation Street' has the honour of cutting the ribbon.
09:20 Come on everyone, four, three, two, one.
09:26 Yay Matt, Coco, Jack!
09:31 [Music]
09:53 It's great you know I was just saying to a few of the staff actually in the area
09:57 it says Blackpool's always been associated with Corrie and going back to like the Jack and Vera days
10:06 Bill Tarby and Liz Dorm obviously they always used to come up to Blackpool and obviously Rita with
10:12 the tram thing, the Alan Bradley thing, that was Blackpool and I've actually done
10:18 I did a bit of filming, William Fleetwood actually, when the Platt's went into the canal
10:26 I don't know if people can remember that, it's kind of a big storyline.
10:30 The Platt's went into the canal in the Ford Galaxy, they filmed the underwater stuff in a
10:48 tank in Fleetwood and we stayed in Blackpool for like a week and I must have been about 12, 13 I
10:55 think, 14 I was, 2003 and Brian Capron who played Richard Helm took me to Funny Girls, the nightclub
11:06 like the drag nightclub and I'd never seen anything like that as 13, 14 year olds don't and
11:13 they were like is he old enough to come in here and Brian went oh yeah yeah yeah yeah he's 16, 16, 16.
11:20 So yeah I've got very very fond memories of Blackpool and I think if ever we were to film
11:31 a story or anything to do with it then I'd definitely be putting my name in the house.
11:37 It's one of those where you know it just starts to come together quite slowly
11:43 and then you get to this point and you walk in and you go wow absolutely stunning.