The finishing touches are being made to Stoke-on-Trent's first Hilton-branded hotel ahead of its opening later this month.
The 140-bedroom Hilton Garden Inn hotel, in Hanley, is due to open to the public in the coming weeks - three months later than planned.
The £20 million development - which forms part of the Smithfield scheme in the city centre - was originally due to open in July.
But the opening date has been pushed back to October following delays caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
General manager Ben Carey said: "There were some delays because of coronavirus but we have come through that now. We will be opening imminently and we are very fortunate to be in a position to be able to do that.
"This hotel is fantastic for the city in terms of regeneration and development; we have also been able to create new and local jobs, so we are really excited to be finally opening.
"The city has been lacking a full-service hotel for many years even to the point where visitors were choosing to stay outside of Stoke-on-Trent because the capacity and accommodation just wasn't there. So there is a lot of excitement around the hotel, it's been phenomenal.
"We are really looking forward to welcoming our guests and members of the public as well as our neighbours from the Clayworks apartments and the Smithfield."
BusinessLive visited the hotel this week for a behind-the-scenes preview of the highly-anticipated hotel which boasts a bar and restaurant, gym, snack bar and meeting rooms.
The snack bar in reception boasts a range of food and refreshments - including alcohol, cereal and chocolate bars.
The bar and Garden Bar and Grill Restaurant is available to members of the public as well as hotel guests while the on-site gym is exclusively for people staying at the hotel.
There are three meetings room available for hire too.
The bedrooms range from a queen room - which contains a pull-out sofa bed - a king room, which is the largest of the rooms, an accessible room for guests with additional needs, a family room for larger groups and a twin room.
Director of sales Steve Alty said: "We have used local suppliers where possible such as LiDR in Stoke which have provided us with the furniture for the bar and restaurant and a lot of the bedrooms and meeting rooms. All of the crockery is from Steelite and we're supporting Titanic Brewery by stocking Plum Porter. We've also used Johnson Tiles and our three meetings rooms are called Mitchell, Matthews and Wedgwood.
"Throughout this whole process it has been really important to us to be able to promote and showcase the city's heritage."
He added: "The hotel could not be in a better position for visitors. We are right next to the new Spitfire museum which is being built around the corner, are in walking distance to the theatres, museums and local attractions such as the Emma Bridgewater factory. We really are in a fantastic location."
