A NEW hotelier to Liverpool said he wants to be “an economic multiplier for local businesses.”

The base2stay brand was launched in London’s Kensington in 2006 and has chosen Liverpool for its second opening this July, in a £14m investment converting Seel Street’s former Seel House Press into a 106-room four-star hotel, creating 60 new jobs.

Its unique selling point is a lack of any dining or bar facilities, preferring instead to encourage guests to discover the surrounding area by pointing them in the direction of bars, cafes, coffee shops and takeaways with the promise of discounts, agreed with the owners of local businesses.

Robert Nadler, base2stay chief executive, said: “We want people to spend their money in the area and see Liverpool.

“We want to be an economic multiplier for local businesses and to be seen as a partner.

“We don’t want a commission or a kick back, just a discount for our guests. We are looking to give benefits, because that is what I would want as a guest.

“We hope people in the area want to work with us.”

He said their Rope Walks location is ideal: “We don’t want to be yet another ordinary hotel in an unexciting part of town.

“The Rope Walks can be one of the premier entertainment areas in the UK, a bit like Shoreditch in London or the Meat Packing area of New York.

“It has got that edgy feeling to it and we feel that by coming in here we are one of the catalysts to change.”

Glasgow-based investment firm Western Heritable is backing base2stay and looked at a range of locations, but Mr Nadler said Liverpool was the obvious choice: “Liverpool is in the process of reinventing itself and you don’t get many opportunities to catch the wave as it is growing.

“This is not just regeneration, it is re-invention. I think this is a city where there is an enormous groundswell of change.

“You talk to people here and they are very proud of their city.”

He praised Liverpool council for an “immense amount of help.

“We found them to be very, very refreshing compared with other local authorities and Liverpool Vision has been fantastic as well, from the very beginning.”

He said he was tremendously excited about the building, which dates back to around 1855 and was an engineering works, a brewery and a cork warehouse.

“There’s almost no standard room in there because every room has a unique characteristic.

“This building has a lot of unique characteristics, such as exposed brickwork and very interesting roof tresses, which we have been able to retain.”