Spruce new Thistle blooms

LONDON - London's biggest hotel group, the Brierley-owned Thistle, will end 1999 having broken the back of a huge "changing rooms" works in more than 6000 hotel rooms as part of its rebranding and refurbishment programme.

Thistle owns 56 hotels in Britain, 23 of them in London and they expect to upgrade a further 4000 rooms in the coming year to help improve their appeal.

Brierley, a 46 per cent majority shareholder in the hotel chain, has long been criticised for investing in Thistle, which has been referred to as a millstone and the black sheep of the family.

For years BIL has promised to turn Thistle around and they should gain this year from events such as the rugby World Cup and millennium celebrations.

Chief executive Ian Burke said the revamping steps taken this year have been in response to guests' needs.

"The refurbishing has also been carried out so we can offer a quality four-star product and service that remains consistent and reliable across every hotel in the group," he said.

Air-conditioning has also been installed in 5005 bedrooms and by the end of next year a further 1151 rooms will also have air-conditioning as well as electronic door locks, safes and power showers.

Thistle also rebranded most of its hotels during the year to highlight their location so The Mount Royal in London has become the Thistle Marble Arch and The Park hotel in Cardiff has become the Thistle Cardiff.

The group has spent millions of pounds on state-of-the-art booking technology and the company website is integrated into the reservation system enabling visitors to book on-line, which in October won them two British hotel awards.

Last financial year Thistle had a turnover of sterling 322.5 million ($1 billion) and a pre-tax profit of sterling 86.6 million. - NZPA