The need for a new hotel next to the SEC had been recognised since the scheme's inception – the initial plans for the building were first unveiled in 1984.

However, further controversy erupted two years later when it was revealed that the SDA's grant to the project totalled £3.4M,[2] whilst at the same time the plans had now grown in size that the proposed hotel now had 300 bedrooms – effectively breaching the earlier agreement that the Glasgow Hoteliers' Association had reached with the SDA.

Nonetheless, the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Malcolm Rifkind approved the development, and groundbreaking began in 1987.

The building frequently appears on current affairs TV programmes broadcast from the STV and BBC Scotland studios on the opposite bank of the river.

One of the three lifts serving the main tower of the hotel is glass-sided, giving views upstream of the Clyde and the Kingston Bridge.