Bits: BA Manchester Gate 37 lounge, Accor competition, San Clemente Palace rebrands

News in brief:

British Airways Manchester Gate 37 lounge update

As we covered on Saturday, the Escape lounge in Manchester Terminal 3 closed yesterday. From this morning, British Airways passengers are being sent to a new location.

Some people thought that the airport was reopening the old BMI lounge to serve British Airways passengers. Unfortunately not.

The second set of rumours have turned out to be correct. British Airways has taken over part of the gate area, in the dead end beyond Gate 37.

I suspect it will be a bit like the ‘lounge’ that BA ran at London City for the (RIP) New York services, with a coffee machine, a drinks fridge, a plate of sandwiches and some biscuits. It can’t be much given that the area has no catering facilities. There are a set of toilets in that area which is a plus point.

By the time you read this, I suspect an early bird will have posted some photos on this Flyertalk thread.

This situation will continue until the autumn when British Airways will make its much delayed move across to Terminal 2. Terminal 3 at Manchester will eventually become a dedicated low cost carrier terminal. The Escape lounge in Terminal 3 is seen as unnecessary given the LCC market.

Win 100,000 Accor Live Limitless points

Accor Live Limitless has launched a competition with a decent prize – 100,000 Accor points, worth €2,000 of future stays.

Even better, there will be 10 winners.

There won’t be too many entrants because the rules are restrictive:

• you must register in advance of booking by clicking here

• you must book stays at two different Accor brands between the date you register and 21st July

• you must compete your stays by 31st August

Your stays must be in Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, French Guyana, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom or Uzbekistan.

The rules don’t go into detail about what counts as a ‘brand’. I suspect ibis and ibis Styles are treated separately although that is not clear. Most ibis Budget hotels do not participate in Accor Live Limitless so those will not be an issue.

I wouldn’t go out of my way to push two stays to Accor to enter this competition. On the other hand, you should definitely register if you think you may end up qualifying because I doubt there will be many people in the draw.

The registration page is here.

Thanks to Michael for flagging.

Mandarin Oriental takes over Venice’s San Clemente Palace

I’m old enough to remember when the luxury Mandarin Oriental hotel chain used to add one hotel every three years, if you were lucky.

Now it is more like three hotels every single year. London alone will soon have three Mandarin Oriental hotels when Bankside Yards is completed.

The group recently took over two of our favourite hotels from The Set Collection – Hotel Lutetia in Paris which I reviewed here and The Conservatorium in Amsterdam which Rhys reviewed here.

It has just announced that it has taken over management of the San Clemente Palace hotel in Venice from Kempinski.

Readers may remember that this was originally a St Regis hotel when it first adopted an international brand, but it threw in the towel very quickly. The combination of seasonal operation – which made it difficult to retain staff – and its location on an island in the lagoon took their toll.

Mandarin Oriental has taken over with immediate effect. A renovation will start in November after it closes for the winter, to be completed in three phases.

It will not carry the Mandarin Oriental name until it reopens in April 2026, although it is bookable on the MO website.

This is a blow for Kempinski, which saw the resort as one of its European flagship properties alongside the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, reviewed here.