Despite a huge drop in tourism, the new Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel is still scheduled to open. The huge opulent hotel has 1,021 rooms and is the largest hotel in London.

The 15-story £350 million hotel is still under construction. The topping-out ceremony is to take place tomorrow night with Mayor Boris Johnson presiding. Construction of the hotel has transformed a blighted area into a London showcase. When it opens, the hotel will have a four-star rating.

There has been much skepticism leveled at the decision to build such an ambitious project in the midst of the worst recession in decades. Tourism in London has tanked in recent months with no sign of a recovery anytime soon. London at present has a glut of empty hotel rooms.

One highly visible casualty of the recession was the Real Hotel Company that had to go into administration because of financial difficulties last year. Real Hotel saw their business drop dramatically due to cancellations of large corporate events.

Officials at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge remain undaunted. The project has been fully funded since its inception and, to date, hasn’t experienced any cuts.

“People might think we are mad to be doing this but in fact we are investing for the future. We have a fabulous location and our prices will be very reasonable”, said general manager, Andrew Swindells.

When it opens the hotel will feature spectacular views of London from its upper floors and terrace. Besides top end penthouse rooms, it will also offer 540 studio rooms reasonably priced at £140 per night targeting families.

Thanks to www.guardian.co.uk for the above quote. For more information about this article please visit their website.