Manchester, arguably England’s second city, has just once again hosted the Annual Hotel Conference.
It was my 12th or 13th appearance there — I am a little confused as to whether COVID-19 made us all miss one or two years.
Many of us take the train to Manchester Piccadilly station and zigzag our way across central Manchester to the Manchester Central Convention Complex, which has hosted the event since the pandemic.
That is the result of the popularity of the AHC, which outgrew its previous hotel homes of the Hilton Manchester Deansgate and, before that, The Lowry.
All has changed in Manchester, though, as befits a large, buzzing city.
The Hilton is now in an interregnum stage, operating as the Manchester Deansgate Hotel before soon becoming part of IHG Hotels & Resorts.
Very noticeable this trip was the construction of the 162-room W Manchester, which is very tall, due to open in 2027, is owned by the City of Manchester itself and also has 217 branded residences.
And in the last year the former mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, has become the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
A Liverpudlian by birth, Burnham already has set up the so-called Downing Street North, which operates from within Manchester office Heron House, with idea that it will have a permanent home in the Manchester Digital Campus by 2032.
The idea for that is to have some economic decision-making and political power be moved away from London, something I have written on, and something that was even suggested by former prime minister Boris Johnson when the Houses of Parliament was going through a refurb.
He mentioned York as a possible home.
One of Burnham’s key policies is devolution, that is, giving more power to regional leaders, including the imposition of tourism levies.
Devolution — and of course the countries of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have this now to some degree — has the potential of being a huge gamechanger in the economy and in the hotel sector.
More devolution — if that is the right word in this additional case — might be coming along, in that, just as I am writing this, news has come in that the U.K. Parliament (still in London!) on Oct. 12 is to discuss “whether the U.K. should apply to join the European Union,” according to the European Movement U.K., which is evidently pro- the pro-European Union.
A note on the petitions page of Parliament’s website states more than 100,000 signatures were gathered asking for a return, a number that automatically triggers an agenda spot for discussion.
It is far from concluded we will rejoin, and the news that such a move is even being discussed will not please everyone.
Burnham — who has given two keynote addresses to the AHC — has mentioned he wishes the U.K. would rejoin, but since becoming prime minister he has become more reluctant to dwell on the point.
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