Hilton Hotel & gym to close / reopen

[bluecanary 13]

12 hours ago, SheffBloke said:

I recently landed at Manchester Airport after a short flight from mainland Europe to the new extended bit of Terminal 2, I had to endure a long long walk to passport control and in doing this walked along a very sparse dull wide corridor (it’s a construction site). As you’re walking you can’t help but look at lots of posters and banners on the walls advertising Manchester and what it has to offer, the city centre, the football clubs, the historical parts, the modern parts, it’s squares, shopping and culture, but not only that you come across smaller posters/banners advertising other areas in the north.......Newcastle, Durham, York, Liverpool, Leeds, Chester, Yorkshire Dales, North Wales...........even The Hope Valley, absolutely nothing, not one single poster with Sheffield on. I just shook my head and laughed, but wasn't at all surprised this city is so far off the map and people’s radar it’s frightening. The place is dead  to outsiders and the people that live here go ape if they have to spend more then a tanner. 

I did exactly the same walk on Tuesday and was also disappointed to note that Sheffield was not represented. Even Durham and Northumberland had posters, and they are several times further away!

Sheffield does very little to promote itself as a tourist destination, though we do have some assets  - our international sports facilities for instance (Ponds Forge and EIS).

[tinfoilhat 11]

45 minutes ago, bluecanary said:

I did exactly the same walk on Tuesday and was also disappointed to note that Sheffield was not represented. Even Durham and Northumberland had posters, and they are several times further away!

Sheffield does very little to promote itself as a tourist destination, though we do have some assets  - our international sports facilities for instance (Ponds Forge and EIS).

That's the first thing I'd look for when shopping for a city break, Olympic sized swimming pools and high diving boards. 

[bluecanary 13]

2 hours ago, tinfoilhat said:

That's the first thing I'd look for when shopping for a city break, Olympic sized swimming pools and high diving boards. 

I obviously wasn't suggesting that tourists would come here for that reason. However, the more general thread is about the number of VISITORS to Sheffield and their requirement for hotel accommodation, irrespective of why they are here. Ponds Forge hosts frequent swimming and diving competitions, among others, and the competitors and their companions are obviously in need of somewhere to stay close by (and the Hilton might have fitted the bill.....)

[tinfoilhat 11]

34 minutes ago, bluecanary said:

I obviously wasn't suggesting that tourists would come here for that reason. However, the more general thread is about the number of VISITORS to Sheffield and their requirement for hotel accommodation, irrespective of why they are here. Ponds Forge hosts frequent swimming and diving competitions, among others, and the competitors and their companions are obviously in need of somewhere to stay close by (and the Hilton might have fitted the bill.....)

Fair comment, but hotel wise there are quite a few within a similar distance. I’d argue most swimmers (and swimming spectators) would be looking at more travelodge and less Hilton.

[Guest makapaka]

15 hours ago, DerbyTup said:

Err no.  You shouldn't just look at visitor numbers to this city and see if they are going up - that doesn't tell you much at all.  It doesn't allow for changes in population, demographics or other environmental factors.  You should compare versus other towns and cities.  That is the same with ANY business assessment.  

 

You should always start with looking at the total market - and how that's doing - and then you look at your own product/service (or in this case, "city" is the product) and see how that compares.  Don't be embarrassed if you didn't know that.  I work with major international corporations who still struggle with the concept.  They look only at how their product is doing and pat themselves on the back because it's increased say, by 20% over a period, when in fact the broader market has grown by 40%.  So actually, they've gone backwards 20%.  It's my job to make them aware of that and to build strategic plans to address that.  It's sort of, what I do for a living - well, one of the things I do anyhow.

 

The city has not been re-branded successfully.  Or even "quite successfully" as you put.  The city does not have a strong identity.  You are kidding yourself if you think that.  I bumped into a guy, it's about 2 years ago now, at a business meeting in London.  He had been hired by Sheffield City Council to help come up with ideas to re-brand the city - in fact he was asking me for advice about the same.  "How do we even get it on the weather map?" I think was one of his questions!  So, there is a problem there and it's really never going to get fixed while-ever we have folks blindly defending it and pretending it isn't a problem.

 

What do I expect the city to do differently - well as Jack Trout stated in his book "The Battle For You Mind",  you have to stand for something.  If you try and stand for everything, or even several things, you get nothing.  This is a fundamental of what is known as "brand positioning" - a concept first described by Jack Trout and Al Ries back in the 1950's and still considered one of the pivotal works on "brand positioning" and taught in business schools and universities all around the world.   So, the first thing I'd like the city to do differently is decide what the hell it is that it wants to stand for.  Is it Steel?  Music?  Sport?  The Outdoors?  Festivals?  Something else?  

 

When you say, "maybe you could lend some ideas" - I definitely could.  I've just given you the most important one in that last paragraph - decide what the devil you stand for.  That would be a major step forward.

 

And as for your following statement: 

 

The city is, after all, a post industrial city with little or no tourist attractions so it is never going to be easy to sell to potential tourists, especially given the proximity to other cities, which are rich with historical and tourist attractions.  

 

I'm sorry, but that is just negative, defeatist, nonsense.  Look at the table of towns and cities again that I posted above.  Look at some of the names on there.  Are you telling me that Sheffield has less to offer than some of those places?  Seriously?  You see, I don't think it has less to offer than some/many of those places.  In fact I think it's got far more to offer than many of them.  However, we are not very good at making people aware of it.

 

And every time someone (perceived as being "from outside" perhaps) tries to point this out, it gets a hugely negative and defensive response.  A bit like yours!  

 

"Leave us alone, we like things as we are, and we don't want to change".

 

This, in a sentence, is why Sheffield is like it is.

To be fair this is one of your better posts.

 

save for the end where you give your own opinion as validation for your argument.

 

the stats you provided were for overseas visitors which is why most of those places are by airports.

 

we don’t have an airport - which is a genuine failure on the cities part - not the mindset of the inhabitants - which is solely In your own head to allow you to feel superior to rest of the population.

 

“all these people that don’t understand what’s good for them”

[boldforester 10]

What was an even bigger failure was to have actually built an airport - Sheffield City, from which I flew several times - only to discover the runway was too short for long-haul flights and knock it down again. Yet another business park.....

[sheffield77 10]

I have stayed at the Hilton Hotel many times and it is a lovely oasis alongside the canal basin in a City Centre. The building will easily be converted into flats,which will be sold for a princely sum. However, this might be a good thing for the area. Watch this space !!

[Guest busdriver1]

On 01/11/2019 at 11:21, bluecanary said:

Sheffield does very little to promote itself as a tourist destination, though we do have some assets  - our international sports facilities for instance (Ponds Forge and EIS).

The reason that Sheffield does not promote itself as a tourist destination is quite simple, it is not one. 

Its greatest claim in that area is that it is near to the Peak district. The problem with that is that the Peak District has hotels IN the Peak district.

Most people going on Holiday to the Peak district do so to get away from large cities / urban sprawls, not to go to another one. 

The promotion of Sheffield as a city of sport means that every now and then some of the budget hotel chains have a field day then go back to tick over again.

[WalkleyIan 10]

On 03/11/2019 at 23:15, busdriver1 said:

Its greatest claim in that area is that it is near to the Peak district.

Technically nearly a 1/3 of Sheffield is in the Peak District national park 

[Guest busdriver1]

18 hours ago, WalkleyIan said:

Technically nearly a 1/3 of Sheffield is in the Peak District national park 

Yes, yawn, we know. What tourist attractions are there in that bit? 

Let me help you - NONE

[Lancs_Lad 10]

On 03/11/2019 at 23:15, busdriver1 said:

The promotion of Sheffield as a city of sport means that every now and then some of the budget hotel chains have a field day then go back to tick over again.

Very good

[catmiss 12]

Bringing this down to personal impact I learnt that my friend’s son who has a young family and has worked at the hotel for several years is to be made redundant on December 15th. A worrying Christmas for him and all the other staff