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The Commonwealth Games was set for Birmingham in 2022 and they were faced with significant construction delays due to Covid. It was announced in late 2021 that the Athletes Village would not be complete on time, hence the organising committee were faced with the daunting task of finding accommodation for up to 3,000 athletes and the organising teams.
The committee secured Birmingham University for the majority of the new Athletes Village however they required a Premium Hotel for their elite athletes and VIP’s. Park Regis Birmingham was identified as the premier hotel in Birmingham and negotiations commenced with John Angus and the senior directors from the Commonwealth.
The Switch team worked for 9 months with the Commonwealth Team to provide Park Regis Birmingham as an exclusive use Athletes Village and the Holiday Inn Birmingham South as a Covid isolation hotel.
The Switch team successfully provided:
• 253 bedrooms and the complete hotel for exclusive use for 28 days.
• 83 bedrooms and the compete hotel for exclusive use for 28 days.
• Park Regis was in full security “lock down” for the period, with all employees and suppliers pre-vetted prior to the games.
• Park Regis:
Accommodated CIRCA 12,000 athletes and teams.
Provided over 50,000 specialist meals with every diet covered.
Managed to have all of our suppliers accredited and all of our deliveries were uninterrupted.
• Switch have a dedicated team, and the real challenge was managing 10 different departments from the Organising Committee, using our hospitality experience this was seamlessly achieved.
Switch were then asked if they could provide a hotel that could manage any positive Covid cases as a Quarantine Hotel. We arranged for our 83-bedroom Holiday Inn Express to become the Commonwealth Games quarantine hotel for a period of 28 days. The team achieved:
Standby rooms and catering in an atmosphere of quarantine every day for 28 days.
Managed all athletes communication and onward travel.
Provided catering for all of the employees that were brought into the hotel on a daily basis.
Steve Darling who was Head of Special Projects for the Commonwealth Games said “The Switch team came to the rescue when we established that we did not have an Athletes Village for the Commonwealth Games.
Park Regis was the perfect venue for our elite athletes and VIP’s, and I cannot thank the team enough as they overdelivered in every area, from the initial contracts to the multitude of planning meetings. I would like to particularly congratulate the team on the quality of food they produced every day, 28 days in the same hotel can make the food extremely boring, that was not the case at Park Regis.
Finally dedicating a hotel as a Quarantine Hotel was a real “life saver” for us and when John found us a private gym, we were delighted. Nothing really is too much of an issue for the Switch team. I’d like to thank them all.”