Bits: Nottingham Belfry leaves Marriott, The Hoxton hits Edinburgh, BA Marseille lounge woes

News in brief:

Delta Hotels Nottingham Belfry leaves Marriott

As we have covered in earlier articles, the QHotels group seems to be slowly breaking all of its branding agreements as the contracts come up for renewal.

In late 2024, QHotels rebranded DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Westerwood Spa & Golf Resort, DoubleTree by Hilton Oxford Belfry and Delta Hotels Cheltenham Chase.

The group went into 2025 with just two branded properties – DoubleTree by Hilton Stratford Upon Avon and Delta Hotels by Marriott Nottingham Belfry.

In late June, readers with bookings at Nottingham Belfry – which has been with Marriott since 2019 – received emails saying that the hotel would operate independently from 1st July 2025. Stays from that date, they were told, would not earn Bonvoy points or elite night credits, and elite status would not be recognised.

Fair enough …. except, oddly, Delta Hotels Nottingham Belfry is still bookable on the Marriott website. It’s not clear what’s going on there, especially as the hotel now has its own booking website up and running.

It is no longer possible to book redemption nights via marriott.com so it is possible that Marriott has a clause in its contract to allow it to keep selling cash nights for a commission for a while longer.

It always seems short-sighted when hotels change brands and then refuse to recognise your old elite status benefits. Nottingham Belfry appears to have been honoring benefits for a week – until 7th July – but no later.

How can you justify emailing someone who went to the trouble of choosing your hotel to tell them that they can no longer have an upgrade, free breakfast and/or late check-out? A decent percentage of people will simply cancel their booking, purely because the hotel refuses to provide benefits it was happy to fund a few weeks ago ….

Let’s see how long DoubleTree Stratford Upon Avon remains a branded property, given that all other QHotels have now reverted to the parent name.

The Hoxton hits Edinburgh

The Hoxton, which is part of Accor’s Ennismore collection of lifestyle brands, has opened its first Scottish hotel in Edinburgh.

The Hoxton has been on a rapid expansion since it merged to create Ennismore in 2020 and is nearing 20 hotels, including four in London (we reviewed The Hoxton Southwark, here). Other recent openings include Vienna, Florence and Copenhagen.

The Hoxton Edinburgh is located in the West End and took over 11 Georgian “inspired” terraced houses which previously housed the Hilton Grosvenor. 214 rooms are split across both sides of Grosvenor Street, with 150 in the main building and the remaining 64 across the street.

As with many Hoxtons, the smallest room types include ‘Snug Singles’ and ‘Bunk’ rooms. It is the second Hoxton to feature its new ‘House’ three bed / three bath suite for up to seven guests.

The Hoxton Edinburgh is part of the Dis-loyalty loyalty scheme. This is a subscription based program with multiple benefits (but no points) including discounted room rates, free coffees and more.

You get 50% off all stays at new Ennismore hotels for the first three months after opening as a Dis-loyalty member, including The Hoxton Edinburgh. By my calculation this would run until 23rd September. The hotel website is here.

Marseille lounge woes for British Airways passengers

Marseille Provence Airport opened a new terminal extension designed by Foster + Partners last year. The extension almost doubled the size of the airport and allowed it to refurbish the existing building, including the non-Schengen departure lounge.

The lounge has been closed since December 2024 but re-opened in early June.

Bizarrely, despite the six month lounge closure, it appears BA and the airport have not agreed a contract to allow access for BA status passengers and those flying in Club Europe. Instead BA is offering €20 vouchers. According to a reader, John, the voucher “can only be redeemed at one outlet after passport control:”

“This miserly voucher doesn’t quite cover one glass of wine plus one sandwich plus one bottle of chilled water. There is no way to escape the noise and bustle of the general departure area.”

Meanwhile the lounge itself (having to turn away unsuspecting BA passengers who have not necessarily been informed of the lack of lounge) has resorted to encouraging passengers to complain to BA, saying:

“We sincerely apologise that your boarding pass does not allow you to access the lounge and benefit from the services offered.

“We understand your frustration and encourage you to contact British Airways customer service via their website or by calling the BA Club with any complaints regarding this ineligibility.”

A big QR code on the laminated sheet then takes you to the appropriate page on the BA website.

British Airways has had six months to agree to a contract with the new lounge, so it seems weak that nothing was in place when it opened. We reached out to BA for an update but have not received a response to date.