Southampton: Moxy Hotel scheduled to open at Westquay

Marriott’s lifestyle brand Moxy Hotels has confirmed the opening date of its second hotel in England outside of London. Scheduled to open in December, Moxy Southampton is located at the Westquay shopping centre and close to the cruise terminal.

Boasting 208 bedrooms, it promises to offer something very different to any other hotel in the city.

Creating 20 jobs, Belvar, the management group operating the hotel, has appointed Charlotte O’Connell as captain of the property, the brand’s take on a general manager.

O’Connell will launch Marriott’s eighth Moxy in the UK and brings a wealth of over 10 years’ hospitality experience to her second captain’s post for the company.  Originally from Wokingham, O’Connell was at the helm for the opening of Moxy London Excel in March 2017.

Prior to entering the corporate market, she gained experience working in independent hotels including Danesfield House in Marlow and the Forbury Hotel in Reading.  After initially studying criminology and psychology at Chester University, O’Connell fell in love with the hospitality industry and has added to her qualifications with a Master Innholders Aspiring Leaders Diploma. O’Connell commented; “I am proud to be opening this hotel in such a great city location. There are a lot of traditional hotels here and nothing is quite as vibrant as Moxy which will give us something different to offer the marketplace.”

Following the Moxy tradition, the new hotel will reflect its locality as well as the history of Southampton with a nautical interior theme. A large art object in the shape of an anchor will be at the entrance. A wall of shipping containers and graffiti art depicting ships will dominate the communal areas.  The hotel’s 208 bedrooms will include 106 Moxy Sleepers, 42 twin rooms, 50 Moxyfied Peak Sleepers with extra amenities and 10 Family Rooms.

Donovan Sumner, Moxy director of operations UK, commented: “This is our fifth hotel opening in England in the last two years and is hot on the heels of Moxy York opening in July. We have also recently opened Moxy Edinburgh Airport and will soon be opening Moxy Paris CDG Airport in November 2020. Recognition of the brand is growing and we are gaining a great reputation in the hotel arena for providing a fresh and contemporary experience thanks to our lively and dynamic social scene. We like to push the boundaries and Moxy Southampton will be no different. Charlotte did a great job of opening Moxy London Excel and we know she will do the same for our latest acquisition.  We look forward to throwing open the doors to Moxy Southampton in time for Christmas.”

Belvar is currently operating 16 Moxy hotels and has opened seven UK hotels since 2016. There are already 29 worldwide Moxy hotels and Belvar has seven planned openings this year within Europe including Bristol, Edinburgh city centre and Verona.