Premier Inn secures £18m expansion deal
An additional 275 bedrooms will be added to the firms’ development pipeline, with plans to open 5,500 UK rooms by the end of 2015.
A 105-room Premier Inn featuring a Brewers Fayre restaurant and Costa Coffee will open at Gloucester Docks (Bakers Quay), Gloucester. The hotel chain has secured a £9m leasehold with Rokeby Developments.
Newbury in Berkshire will see a 110-room Premier Inn hotel open in the town centre (Park Way). The deal is for a leasehold with Rotterdam Properties, worth £4.5 million.
Premier Inn is also investing £4.5m in building a 60-room hotel on Portal road in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, with a freehold acquired from the local council.
“At Gloucester Docks, Newbury and Monmouth, we have exchanged tremendous deals to put new Premier Inn hotels into prime positions,” commented John Bates, head of acquisitions (South) for Premier Inn.
“With a capex budget of £700 million for the 2015/16 financial year, we are investing with intent and looking for more outstanding opportunities like these to help us deliver successful and sustainable growth,” he said.
The trio of sites will create approximately 125 year-round jobs, building towards the company's target of creating 8,000 jobs by 2018.
Continued growth
The expansion plans follow strong first quarter results this year for Premier Inn’s parent company Whitbread, which reported overall sales growth of 12.5 per cent year-on-year.
Total Premier Inn sales rose 14.3 per cent following the opening of an additional 333 hotel rooms across the UK since January.
The brand has set a target to operate 85,000 UK rooms by 2020.
