The DoubleTree by Hilton Bristol City Centre has become only the third hotel in the city to be able to accommodate more than 300 delegates for a conference after opening its new ballroom.
Completion of the room, part of a £100,000 refurbishment and extension at the hotel on Redcliffe Way, pictured, means it can now compete against the Bristol Marriott City Centre, which has a maximum capacity of 600, and the Mercure Bristol Grand, which can accommodate up to 500 delegates.
Despite having a thriving conference and events sector and boasting more than 100 venues offering meeting spaces, Bristol has never been able to compete with other cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham for hotels with conference facilities attached.
Bristol’s largest conference and events venue Ashton Gate – which has space for up to 1,300 people – is in the south of the city away from its main business hotels.
And despite a raft of new city centre hotel openings planned for the next few years, none are planning to include facilities to target the large conference market.
The general manager of the 206-bedroom DoubleTree by Hilton Bristol City Centre, Imran Ali, said the new ballroom ended up a little bigger than had been originally expected, as other opportunities for creating some more room emerged as the work started.
“We now have an amazing facility that can accommodate around 340 people in cabaret-style and can seat 450 guests theatre-style,” he said
“The refurbishment project went very well and was actually completed slightly ahead of schedule. 
“After the lockdowns and challenges posed by the pandemic, a well-defined path to recovery lies ahead, and we’re building our business back stronger than ever.
“We’re very proud of our new facilities which we believe will be of great benefit to Bristol.”
The room has already hosted a successful networking event for Redcliffe and Temple BID (Business Improvement District) as well as its first wedding and received some very positive feedback about our refurbishments, said Mr Ali.
As well as increasing the capacity of the room, windows were added to provide natural daylight and energy-efficient IT and electrical upgrades were added.
“We know that the city receives a good volume of enquiries for venues with the kind of capacities that we are now able to accommodate,” added Mr Ali
“We’ve had an extremely busy past few months, which has been great, but the corporate business has been softer so far.
“But as that starts to pick up again post-pandemic, this significant investment in our hotel will put us in the perfect position to be able to attract that corporate business.”
Completion of the refurbishment, which took around five weeks, was marked by a visit by Lord-Lieutenant for Bristol, Peaches Golding OBE CStJ, pictured above – who gave her seal of approval to the new ballroom.
She said: “The splendid accommodation provided by the new ballroom will attract commercial, tourist and social use from the city and beyond.
“I am thrilled that the ownership team has made this investment in our city as the hotel is good for Bristol and Bristol is good for DoubleTree by Hilton.
“Now conferences and groups of more than 300 people and more have another premium-quality venue to meet their dining and meeting needs, as well as their IT and accommodation requirements.”
Lynn Hood, chief operating officer of Focus Hotels, which manages The DoubleTree by Hilton Bristol City Centre, said the past 18 months has been very challenging for the hotel sector.
“But since the easing of lockdown restrictions, we’ve been enjoying a very positive recovery in the conference market, which has been extremely encouraging, as this makes a significant contribution to the financial stability of hotels,” she added.
“This investment at the DoubleTree by Hilton Bristol City Centre further reinforces the growing confidence in the sector and is another positive indication that we are on the road to recovery.
“The new ballroom is not only a huge asset to the hotel but will also benefit the whole city because of the kind of events it will now be able to host.”
