Inside the Holiday Inn

National World - Broadcast Video

We go behind the scenes as Blackpool's newest hotel - the £34million Holiday Inn, prepares for its big opening day

Transcript

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.

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