Sheraton Skyline Hotel at London Heathrow

Sheraton Skyline Hotel at London Heathrow is a 4-star[1] hotel in London, England. It is located at Bath Road in Hayes Middlesex, near Heathrow Airport.[2] The hotel, built in 1971, is operated by the Sheraton hotel group and has 350 rooms. The hotel was purchased in 2015 by Qatar Airways, the first such hotel to be branded under the airline's Oryx brand.

History

The hotel opened for business on 1 October 1971 with a single room price of £6 and double-rooms priced at £9.[3] That same year the hotel formed part of a group called the London Heathrow Conference Service with most of the major hotels in the area, to specifically target business travelers and "become the business meeting centre of Europe".[4] The Skyline Hotel, along with Skyline Park Tower in Knightsbridge were developed by Capital & Counties. Skyline sold them to both to a Sheraton subsidiary for a combined £4 million in 1977.[5] From the outset the hotel became known for hosting numerous international business conferences. On 9 March 1977, the "Transport of hazardous cargoes by air" conference was held at the hotel.[6] During the 1970s, entertainment at the hotel included Diamond Lil's Wild West Cabaret, which ran up to six nights a week, and the house band The Banjo Boys.[7] In 1980 the Turkish Cypriot business community met at the hotel to discuss trade and investment between Turkey and the UK.[8]

In 1981, John Rotter was appointed controller of the Sheraton Management Corporation and controller of the Sheraton Skyline Hotel.[9] In 1988, Swedish property development consortium Reinhold Int bought the hotel for nearly £40 million.[10]

At the end of 1996, the hotel completed the Department of National Heritage's certification in the Investors in People Program, which rates the performance of employers in the hospitality industry. The certification marks employers who have high training and incentive programs for employees in one of Britain's fasted-growing employment sectors.[11] The Sheraton Skyline was one of the venues for the first four days of the Congress in London, held between 4 and 11 July 1997.[12] For a period it was known as the Sheraton Skyline Hotel and Conference Centre.[13]

In May 2002, hundreds of people were evacuated from the hotel by fire services, after it was reported that guests could smell ammonia.[14] In early November 2007 there was a hit-and-run incident at the hotel when Detective Constable Cathy Corbett, 39, was rundown by a blue Peugeot 207, suffering serious head injuries.[15]

The hotel was purchased in 2015 by Qatar Airways, the first such hotel to be branded under the airline's Oryx brand.[16][17]

Architecture and facilities

The Sheraton Skyline was built in 1971 by Curtis and Davies and designed by Ronald Fielding.[18][19] The hotel is noted for its "atrium design".[19] The hotel features 350 rooms.[17]

The hotel has several restaurants including Madhu's Heathrow, Sports Bar & Grill and the Sky Bar, which serves cocktails.[20] The menu at Madhu's Heathrow features Punjabi cuisine, based on recipes from the original Madhu Indian Restaurant, located in Southall, West London. It is the first branch of the 33-year-old establishment.[21] It previously had a Mediterranean restaurant called The Garden, which overlooked the hotel's swimming pool.[22] A 1983 article in The Law Society's Gazette stated: "An earthly paradise appears in the shape of the Sheraton Skyline Hotel at Heathrow, where the chef, Uwe Zander, has a fantastic number of awards".[23]

References
  1. Publishing, Pitman (September 1997). World Hotel Directory 1998. Pitman Publishing. p. xv. ISBN 978-0-273-62763-0.
  2. Key British Enterprises: KBE. The Division. 1995. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-901491-97-8.
  3. "The Times Diary: Bed and Bath". The Times (14). London, England. 2 February 1973. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  4. Sandles, Arthur (24 March 1973). "Eleventh Hour for the £300m. Hotel Boom". The Financial Times (26, 017). London, England. p. 17.
  5. Investors Chronicle & Financial World. Throgmorton Publications. 1977. p. 51.
  6. Aerospace. Royal Aeronautical Society. 1979. p. 9.
  7. Hayes, Alan (21 August 2014). "Cabaret rides again with a 40th anniversary show". GetWestLondon. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  8. Collard, Elizabeth (1980). Middle East Economic Digest. Middle East Economic Digest, Ltd. p. 41.
  9. Atlantic. American Chamber of Commerce (United Kingdom). January 1981. p. 29.
  10. Caterer & Hotelkeeper. IPC Consumer Industries Press. August 1988. p. 6.
  11. Gray, Susan (27 February 1997). "How tourism is improving its standards of hospitality". The Times of London. London, England. p. 35. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  12. Parsiana. Jehangir R. Patel. 1997. p. 92.
  13. Rees, Claire (September 1998). World Hotel Directory, 1999: An Essential Guide for Business Travellers, Including Conference Room Capacities. Trans-Atlantic Publications. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-273-63734-9.
  14. "Hotel guests escape after fumes scare". South Wales Echo, accessed via HighBeam Research (subscription required). 31 March 2002. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  15. "Policewoman in Fight for Life After Being Run Down by Escaping Suspect". Daily Mail, accessed via HighBeam Research (subscription required). 3 November 2007. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  16. Otley, Tom (6 March 2015). "Qatar Airways buys Sheraton Skyline". Business Traveller. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  17. "Qatar Airways Acquires Sheraton Skyline in UK". Gulf Times, accessed via HighBeam Research (subscription required). 10 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  18. Saxon, Richard (June 1994). The atrium comes of age. Longman. p. 98.
  19. The Architects' Journal. Architectural Press Limited. 1990. p. 65.
  20. "Welcome to Heathrow's Gathering Place". Sheratonskyline.com. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  21. "Madhu's Heathrow brings new Indian dining concept to the Sheraton Skyline Hotel". Melksham, England: Incentive Travel & Corporate Meetings. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  22. Caswell, Mark (7 March 2011). "Sheraton opens "al fresco" restaurant at Heathrow". Business Traveller. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  23. The Law Society's Gazette. The Society. 1983. p. 498.

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