Guoman Hotels will invest £16.1m into the refurbishment of the 18th century, grade I-listed building The Royal Horseguards hotel in Whitehall, London.

The 280-bedroom hotel, formally used by the secret service in World War One, will become the fourth hotel in the Guoman collection in 2009. The hotel will include a new conservatory restaurant and a Guoman Club Lounge, while £1m will be spent on the meeting and events space at the connecting One Whitehall Place. The hotel will remain part of Crown Estates which owns the land its built on.

The investment is part of an international expansion plan for Guoman Hotels', which is owned by Brierley Investments.

As well as the Royal Horseguards property, the group intends to relaunch two other Thistle hotels in London – The Grosvenor and the Thistle Marble Arch – under the Guoman brand as part of a £150m investment scheme.

Guoman also has plans to open hotels in Beijing and Shanghai over the next two years.

To support its expansion plans, Guoman Hotels is investing £300,000 into a Food & Beverage Academy to improve its staffs' service skills.

The academy will be run at its Tower Hotel at St Katherine's Dock, London and will include its own training restaurant and teaching rooms. The programme will comprise of three levels, ranging from industry beginners to management, and will be spread over 30 sessions focusing on communication, product knowledge and service skills.

Brierley Investments operates the Guoman brand under its Guoman Hotel Management arm, which also operates the Thistle Hotels division.

Brierley acquired the 56-strong Thistle Hotels portfolio in 2003.