Travel & Tourism

One of Manchester’s most luxury hotels is opening a new location at Manchester Airport

Pre-holiday sleepovers are about to get fancy.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 5th June 2024

Dakota, a luxury hotel in the heart of Manchester, has announced plans to expand with a brand-new location at Manchester Airport.

The beautiful four-star is one of the city’s best hotels, and frequently welcomes celebrity guests who are performing here or visiting.

And now Dakota is preparing to open a brand-new hotel, this time out near Manchester Airport.

A planning application has now been submitted for a property with 154 bedrooms, a bar and brasserie-style grill, and 130 parking spaces with an airport terminal shuttle service.

Dakota Manchester Airport will be the second hotel for the group here in our city, with the other opening on Ducie Street in 2019.

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Artist impressions that have been released show a similar hotel building to the one in town – an imposing, beautiful black building with huge windows, designed by KPP Architects.

The award-winning hospitality group Dakota Hotels hopes to open the Manchester Airport hotel in 2026.

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An executive suite at Dakota Hotel, which has submitted plans for a new location at Manchester Airport
Dakota has submitted plans for a new hotel at Manchester Airport. Credit: Supplied

Andrew Ovenstone, managing director of Dakota Hotels, commented: “This is a significant moment for Dakota Hotels, and this Airport expansion marks an exciting time for our team and guests alike.

“With routes covering four continents of the world and increasing numbers of passengers and flights year on year, Manchester Airport is a fast-growing global gateway to the North.

“We are looking forward to being part of the journey for the 28 million travellers that come through their doors – bringing our unique brand of luxury hospitality to the Airport hotel market.”

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Recently named as a Sunday Times Best Place to Work, Dakota is predicted to generate upwards of 150 jobs for the community across a variety of departments at their Manchester Airport hotel.

It’s also expected the new hotel will boost the local economy with £12m per year.

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Featured image: Supplied

Travel & Tourism

Manchester Airport unveils bumper Christmas makeover with Santa’s Grotto and last-minute shopping ideas

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Manchester Airport unveils bumper Christmas makeover with Santa’s Grotto and last-minute shopping ideas

Christmas has officially landed at Manchester Airport, and with an estimated 1.1m of us travelling through the busy transport hub in the coming weeks, the airport is really kicking off the festivities. 

The halls have been decked with all sorts of festive touches, like a 20ft Christmas tree in Terminal 2, and plenty more glitter and sparkle around the entire airport. 

There are dozens of discounts on stocking fillers as part of Manchester Airport’s ‘Holidays Mode Activated’ campaign, along with festive menus at bars and restaurants.

A Santa’s Grotto in Terminal 1’s free play area, the Little Flyers Zone, will be open until Wednesday 18 December, where little Mancs can send off their list to the big man with a Letters to Santa Station. 

Santa himself will be on hand to greet families on Thursday and Fridays, but his elves will be there throughout the next few weeks too. 

There are more than 200 destinations you can fly directly to from Manchester, from city breaks to other Christmas markets to snatched fortnights of sunshine to flights to spend the festive break with loved ones. 

You can do your Christmas shopping at Manchester Airport with brilliant businesses like The Sculpts
You can do your Christmas shopping at Manchester Airport with brilliant businesses like The Sculpts

And whether you’re one of those who’s panicked and left your shopping until the last minute, or are biding your time to save cash on beauty, booze and fragrance at World Duty Free, you can tick everything off your list on your way home for Christmas. 

Shops at Manchester Airport include legendary toy shop Hamleys, fragrance favourite Jo Malone, and sportswear brand JD Sports. 

You can stock up on gifts like fashion accessories from shops like BOSS and Accessorize, or get all your gifts for 2024 in one go at duty free. 

And don’t miss The Sculpts, a Manchester-based design business operated by a local couple, who sell a range of handmade homeware and souvenirs including their signature alphabet tiles. 

Manchester Airport Managing Director Chris Woodroofe said: “Christmas is a magical time here at Manchester Airport. 

“We’re always proud to connect the North to the world but the importance of that role really shines through at this time of year. It feels wonderful when you see travellers having emotional reunions in arrivals and families in departures getting ready to visit Father Christmas in Lapland.

“It’s also always a popular time to fly and, having broken our passenger records every month for well over a year now, we expect this Christmas to be the biggest and busiest we’ve ever seen with over a million passengers flying in the two-week festive period. 

“Not only will those passengers receive a great service – last month 82% of our passengers waited less than five minutes to get to security – but they will also be able to soak up some of the magic we have here, including Santa’s grotto in our Little Flyers Zone in Terminal 1 and choirs singing carols at various spots in all three terminals.

“We can’t wait to welcome passengers to Manchester Airport this festive season.”

Read more: Aer Lingus is serving ‘classic’ Christmas dinners in the sky this festive period

Featured image: Supplied

Travel & Tourism

Record 29 million people expected to drive home for Christmas this year

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Drivers are being told to prepare for long queues, as a record number of festive trips are predicted across the UK ahead of the big day.

With the festive season generally known to make the roads nationwide busier than usual, travel warnings have now been issued to all those making Christmas getaway trips for the holidays – with an annual study by the RAC and INRIX suggesting that 29 million journeys are planned before Christmas Day arrives.

Nearly half of these journeys (14.3 million) are set to be crammed into this coming weekend.

But, as Christmas falls mid-week this year, the figures suggest there will be an extended period of ‘pre-Christmas panic’ on the roads, with 5.7m trips taken yesterday and today alone.

The true festive getaway kicks off tomorrow (20 December), with an expected 3 million trips on this day, before the figure then jumps up to 3.7 million and 2.9 million this coming weekend (Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 December) – which is the final weekend before the big day itself.

A record 29 million people expected to drive home for Christmas this year / Credit: Geograph

By far the single busiest day, however, has to be Christmas Eve, with 3.8 million separate getaway journeys expected by car, on top of the final flurries of commuter traffic.

To make matters worse for everyone, the RAC’s research has also revealed that a further 4.7 million trips are expected at some point between the 20 and 22 December, and 2.5 million on either the 23 or 24 December, all coming from motorists who haven’t yet decided which day they’ll travel.

When it comes to the best and worst times to travel over the festive period, the research has revealed that the worst time to travel along major routes will be between 1pm and 7pm, especially tomorrow and Saturday, so both the RAC and INRIX are suggesting that drivers set off early in the morning, or later in the evening when the heaviest of the traffic should have subsided.

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After the big day, there are an additional 4.4 million trips predicted on Boxing Day and 3.8 million on Friday 27 December.

On these days, drivers are advised to avoid major roads during the hours of 10am to 3pm, which is when journeys are expected to take significantly longer than usual.

Featured Image – Vladimir Proskurovskiy (via Unsplash)

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