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Duxford to get a hotel on site


Julien

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Stayed in a Hilton in Oxford once. Never again. Was directed - not shown - to a corridor market 'Toilets' to a shabby ground floor room next to a fire escape - with a Buddliea growing under the door - about 3 feet tall.

Feedback slip duly completed. I bet it never even left the building.

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How we get from a hotel which has not had the first sod of earth dug yet to German cars' quality beats me - more like UKAR! But on the German note, why is it they insist on fitting obviously inaccurate speedometers; most speeding cars I see are BMW, Merc or Audi.

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As someone who has attended a fair few business related conferences (and been involved in organising a couple) and dinners over the years I know the organisers are always looking for something interesting for the attendees to do on the "free" days or to allow them access to areas that they might not otherwise see. So I can see the attraction of a hotel at Duxford for that market. That will help pull in business in the spring and autumn when most of these type of events seem to occur.

 

What is a "Hilton"? It has been a long time since it was a single brand renowned for its 1970s elevator music. It is now a series of brands each with its own price point in the hotel market. It is also effectively a franchise operation, with, as in Duxford's case, an independent operator building and operating a hotel, in this case under the "Hampton by Hilton" brand. That is their so called "upper midscale" brand (not sure what that means in terms of the cost of a bed for the night. Unfortunately, as with all franchise operations, you get good ones and bad ones. Also they need regular refurbishment, and an operator willing to invest, or you get the problems experienced by some on here. Unfortunately those tend to be the ones that get remembered.

 

As for cars I recall that quality concerns for Mercedes arose when they began to build the M class SUV (the GLE today) in the USA in the mid-late 1990s and shipped them to Europe. It seemed that the US interpretation of "luxury" and "quality materials" differed somewhat from that expected in Europe from that same company. As for reliability, well the more complicated you make them the more there is to go wrong. My biggest bugbear is the few cars, especially the premium brands, that now come without a spare wheel (even as an option) just a can of expanding foam. I supect that is why you see so many broken down waiting on the AA/RAC/Green Flag man to come and recover them.

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Just because a statement has some readers "project" a racist connotation on to it, it doesn't automatically make that statement any less true or apposite. Some facts are less palatable to a general audience  than others. 

 

Chris. 

Edited by spruecutter96
Amending some information.
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26 minutes ago, EwenS said:

As someone who has attended a fair few business related conferences (and been involved in organising a couple) and dinners over the years I know the organisers are always looking for something interesting for the attendees to do on the "free" days or to allow them access to areas that they might not otherwise see.

Absolutely true ... 'bonuses' at conferences I've attended include the RAF Museum at Hendon, the Williams racing team collection, Bush whisky distillery, Guinness brewery, Henry Ford museum. In some cases it was the only main reason I went :)

 

8 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

Will it have a viewing gallery?

This would be a big attraction, provided its in the right location. I have on several occasions been in the so called 'press pen' at Duxford. Most of us would have paid good money for a better facility. It would be nice if an aviation photographer were involved in setting it up!

 

Cheers

 

Colin

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5 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

Some facts are less palatable to a general audience  than others. 

I didn't see a 'fact' in your post about East European production, rather an implication that East European manufacturing was inferior. The responses were facts that suggested otherwise.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

 

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Just now, Beermonster1958 said:

The news article attached to original post does mention an "open terrace on the top floor"

 

John

With a bar and lounge? Plane spotting should be a relaxed affair!

 

Trevor

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4 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

With a bar and lounge? Plane spotting should be a relaxed affair!

 

Trevor

And a loo that doesn't require a 20min hike!!

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1 minute ago, Max Headroom said:

With a bar and lounge? Plane spotting should be a relaxed affair!

 

Trevor

 

You can imagine some special (if expensive) deals on airshow days - 'your premier ticket includes double room, breakfast, access to our exclusive Spitfire rooftop bar (drinks not included) and programme'. 😀

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On 14/06/2021 at 08:56, ckw said:

why did they move Flying Legends if this was in the pipeline

According to a Fighter Collection announcement Flying Legends was moved in agreement with IWM as IWM had been limited to the number of airshow weekends they are now allowed put on and the Flying Legends weekend was not 'theirs'. It seems it was very amicable. 

Mark

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3 hours ago, Mark Harmsworth said:

According to a Fighter Collection announcement Flying Legends was moved in agreement with IWM as IWM had been limited to the number of airshow weekends they are now allowed put on and the Flying Legends weekend was not 'theirs'. It seems it was very amicable. 

Mark

That was the official statement…..

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On 6/15/2021 at 12:43 AM, spruecutter96 said:

Surely the hotel will be fully-booked for events (apparently now a maximum of two airshows per annum and 10 "air days" during 2021 - COVID regulations permitting) and virtually empty for the rest of the year?

 

I was told a few years ago that, during January and February, the museum can go several days without a single visitor.  No-one wants to walk around a museum the size of Duxford in sub-zero temperatures.

 

Chris. 

Clearly never been arctic trained 🙄Clockwork navy whooo

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VIP guests would have priority anyway, always assuming the entire area wasn't sold off to some hospitality company for the days.  I suspect the chance of any random air show visitor getting into this area during the flying display would be very small.

 

"normal" = anyone with my preferences and who spends their money the way I do.

 

Hmm.  I can see problems with that definition...

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You can guarantee that the hotel's prices will either double or triple during air-show weekends. I don't know how true this is but, last time I attended RIAT, there was a rumour floating around that a nearby hotel was charging £1,000 a night to its guests. I find the idea that anyone would actually pay this kinda money for one night just plain mind-blowing. 

 

Chris.   

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1 minute ago, spruecutter96 said:

I find the idea that anyone would actually pay this kinda money for one night just plain mind-blowing. 

 

Chris.   

If true, I would imagine that would be for those who were attending on 'business' and their organisations were paying the bill.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

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1 minute ago, ckw said:

If true, I would imagine that would be for those who were attending on 'business' and their organisations were paying the bill.

You could well be right, Colin. For a huge aviation / armament company, I'm sure £1,000 a night wouldn't be any kind of trouble at all. 

 

Chris.  

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57 minutes ago, Beermonster1958 said:

....because the Premier had a restaurant and bar!!, 😉😂🍻

 

Without my reading glasses, I read the last word as barff.  I assumed it was a comment on the food in aforesaid restaurant.  Says something about the level of establishment I tend to frequent.

Edited by Seahawk
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12 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

You can guarantee that the hotel's prices will either double or triple during air-show weekends. I don't know how true this is but, last time I attended RIAT, there was a rumour floating around that a nearby hotel was charging £1,000 a night to its guests. I find the idea that anyone would actually pay this kinda money for one night just plain mind-blowing. 

 

Chris.   

 

Market forces and price modelling. None of this should be a surprise. Hotels will not set rates that nobody will pay for, obviously. But.... when demand is up then rates will go up which will offset lower margins during quiet periods. If for example I want to fly LHR - MAD Monday morning in June (in normal times) it's more expensive than, say, midday Wednesday January. More people are competing for the seats.

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38 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

You could well be right, Colin. For a huge aviation / armament company, I'm sure £1,000 a night wouldn't be any kind of trouble at all. 

 

Chris.  

But you can bet that "big business" would have it booked up months in advance and wouldn't be paying full whack. Those types of organisation have their own travel depts, or arrangements with third parties, who negotiate discounted deals with hotel chains often on a worldwide basis.

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22 hours ago, Beermonster1958 said:

Can you define "normals" please? 😉

The honourable gentleman's pithy observation below is harsh but fair! 😉

22 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

"normal" = anyone with my preferences and who spends their money the way I do.

 

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On 6/15/2021 at 6:04 PM, IanC said:

 

- 'your premier ticket includes double room, breakfast, access to our exclusive Spitfire rooftop bar (One Spitfire Gin or Supermarine Wodka included) and programme'. 😀

Fixed that :D

I mean.. they'd be mad not to.

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On 14/06/2021 at 14:34, Beermonster1958 said:

Maybe better transport accessibility might be just as important as bringing visitors as a new hotel might?

Slightly off topic, but I quite agree with this. Despite Whittlesford Station being just across the M11, it is woefully under utilised. I've picked my son up for an air day from Whittlesford and there was nobody else getting off the train! There are supposed to be 50 trains a day from Liverpool Street to Whittlesford, although I'd bet that drops significantly on a Sunday.

IWM say on their site 'There are taxi ranks at Royston and Cambridge, or you can take the 7A bus from Whittlesford Parkway (Monday to Saturday only).' I hate to think what a taxi ride from either Royston or Cambridge would cost and the idea of depending on a bus service that does not run on a Sunday is frankly ludicrous.

They obviously haven't heard of shuttle buses.

And don't get me started on the wholly inadequate access road, or lack of. Duxford is a great resource but they don't make it easy for the average punter to get there, and forget it if you don't own a car.

As to the hotel, well, if it makes money for them, great. If it's really going to be run by Hilton, not so great.

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On 6/15/2021 at 7:29 AM, Beermonster1958 said:

If it were the case that during the months of January and February that there were no visitors for "several days" I'd think the museum might actually close during those months and, open seasonally (March to October for example) like some museums do.

What you were told, may in fact be an exaggerated account.

Not wanting to be a smart-bottom here, but Duxford is open all year round, regardless of visitor-numbers. The information about no visitors in much of January or February was imparted to me by a lady who was sitting behind the ticket-desk. I can see no reason whatsoever why she would "lie" (as per your implication) about this information. This would be of no benefit to her or the museum, if it were false. 

 

Chris. 

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