Top 10 best business hotels revealed

05-Jun-2012 - Last updated on 26-Apr-2021 at 18:56 GMT

Bloc Hotel in Birmingham has been named the best business travel hotel by hotel discount specialist LateRooms.com declaring free hotel Wi-Fi the secret to a happy corporate guest

Birmingham's Bloc Hotel has declared free hotel Wi-Fi internet remains the most crucial feature for corporate guests as it is named the best for business travel by hotel discount specialist LateRooms.com.

The boutique budget hotel on Caroline Street in the West Midlands city only opened in 2011 but was last week named number one in the LateRooms.com top 10 list of UK Best For Business Travel hotels. The Birmingham venue beat Sheffield's Copthorne Hotel and CitizenM in Glasgow to the top spot.

The accommodation website compiled the list by combining the positive reviews of venues submitted by business customers online as well as the hotels that secured the most bookings from corporate guests or business travellers on the site.

Free Wi-Fi

"We knew that we had been doing well with corporate customers because we have been open a year and we see the same faces again so they like the product and they come back. We have always done extremely well with business guests - they seem to get the product," Olivier Delaunoy, Bloc Hotel director, told BigHospitality after his venue received the accolade.

According to LateRooms.com, Bloc Hotel came top due to its king sized beds and the monsoon drench shower installed in all of its 73 bedrooms however Delaunoy said personality-driven customer service and free Wi-Fi internet remained the most crucial aspects of a hotel offering to its business guests.

"We are very simple and straight-forward with a 'yes attitude' and without too much 'fluff' on it. Free Wi-Fi is very important as well as fast Wi-Fi. Also having a nice working area in the bedrooms is important," he said.

Expansion

Currently 68 per cent of the guests checking into the Bloc Hotel are business travellers. Delaunoy explained the majority of business travellers originally come to the hotel through a third party like LateRooms.com but many guests then build up a relationship with the venue and book again in person or mainly online.

The owners of the independent hotel, which is built in a style inspired by Japanese pod-style hotels and contains high-end furnishings but without an F&B offering, plan an 'aggressive' expansion of the brand with sites being explored elsewhere in Birmingham and London.

In recent years a number of hotels and hotel chains have revealed they are looking to increase the percentage of corporate guests or move their venues more into the meetings sector including Jurys Inn. Best Western has also revealed this month its 280 hotels have collectively recorded a 37 per cent rise in conference bookings in May; a surge bosses are also attributing to free internet offered across the group of independent hotels.

The Top 10 best business hotels according to the LateRooms.com UK Best For Business Travel list are: