UK group hails hotel jobs in California

United Designers USA, the San Francisco arm of the UK hotel and restaurant specialist, has won the redesign of two hotels in California.

United Designers, led by Keith Hobbs, set up the San Francisco office last year. This double project for the Hotel Group of America is the US arm’s most significant win to date.

The hotels, the 130-room Hotel Union Square and 113-room Hotel Metropolis, will be refurbished. Designer Colum McCartan is leading the project in San Francisco.

Hotel Union Square is being upgraded to be an “elegant contemporary” hotel with influences from the 1920s Prohibition era, says a United Designers spokeswoman. The Hotel Metropolis has been empty for several years and will have alternating floors themed around earth, wind, fire and water.

United Designers USA won the projects against three US groups.