Industry News

The last five years have seen Hotel Indigo breathe new life into one of the Durham City’s iconic buildings, win awards and overcome a global pandemic.

Once known as the old shire hall, the hotel building was built in the 1890s for Durham County Council and became an iconic feature in the city’s skyline. The evolution of the red terracotta building continued with Durham University using the premises as a headquarters throughout the 20^th and early 21^st centuries, up until 2012 when the university vacated the structure. Then, in 2018, the iconic building opened as Hotel Indigo Durham, an 83-bedroom boutique hotel in the heart of the city.

Tom Orange, general manager at Hotel Indigo Durham, discusses the challenges he and the team have faced over the last five years and what he sees as the hotel’s biggest achievement since opening.

Over the last five years, hospitality – including Hotel Indigo Durham - has seen some uncertain times, what has been the biggest challenge?

“We faced one of the biggest challenges to ever hit hospitality. The hotel had one aim, to survive. Survival on all levels from the closure of the hotel, to managing furlough and then reopening with a lot of anxiety and unknowns as the world started to get back to normality after 13 long months.” 

As the hotel reaches its 5^th birthday, what has been your stand-out moment from your time here? 

“The hotel's key achievement during that time was that we retained every employee throughout the lockdown which made our reopening easier. The stand-out moment from me was winning the Large Hotel of the Year for North East Tourism awards and a Silver award for Visit England in 2022. A reward for all the hard work the hotel's dedicated team put in to get the hotel open and back to being one of the best in the city”.

The hotel has seen great success since opening, how do you make the next 5 years as successful or even better?

“Looking forward we want to maintain the service and product that our guests love, continue to build awareness of our facilities, as well as keep the momentum of attracting and retaining the best staff in the industry. Helping to improve all aspects of our guest's journey from check-in to check-out. It's all about the people! Achieve that and the business will continue to flourish!.”