07 Aug 2008
Whitbread continues with expansion plans
BY Pete Hayman
Hotel operator Whitbread has today announced a £100m plan to develop nine new Premier Inn hotels at locations across the UK. The development will add more than 1,000 rooms to the company's portfolio, and follows last week's news that Whitbread is to acquire 21 Express by Holiday Inn sites from Mitchells and Butlers. The group will launch new hotels in Trowbridge, Wiltshire; Glasgow; Kendal; Newport, Shropshire; Rugeley, Staffordshire; Preston; Doncaster and two in London. The two new standalone hotels with integrated restaurants in London at Greenwich and Aldgate will add 500 rooms in the capital. It is part of Whitbread's strategy to establish Premier Inn sustained as the largest hotel chain in London by the 2012 Games. As part of the expansion plans, Whitbread will also launch five new pub restaurants. Three new Beefeater pub restaurants will accompany new Premier Inn sites in Glasgow, Kendal and Newport, while two Table Table outlets are planned for the Trowbridge and Rugeley developments. Mark Anderson, property director for Whitbread, said that there is more opportunity now than at any other time for the budget hotel market. "The two sites in Preston and Doncaster were earmarked for office development, but that market had gone soft in those locations," he said. Rival budget hotel operator Travelodge has also recently a £150m investment in 55 new coastal hotels to attract holidaymakers back to the British seaside in light of the economic downturn. Anderson, however, revealed that the Whitbread expansion plans were already in the pipeline since the start of 2008, and that the company is confident of meeting long-term targets "It's a group of sites taking us towards our targets for many years to come. We don't see it letting up," he said.
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