Whitbread brings hub by Premier Inn to Marylebone
Whitbread Plc, the UK’s leading hospitality group and owner of Premier Inn, has opened the doors to its newest location in Central London – the hub by Premier Inn Marylebone hotel.
The 13-storey hotel, which features 294 ‘compact’ bedrooms, was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Westminster and Westminster City Council’s Deputy Cabinet Member for Skills and Equalities, today [Tuesday 12th December] at a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Joining the dignitaries were a 50-strong team that will be operating the new hotel, nearly all of whom are new to the Whitbread, with many living in Westminster and other inner London boroughs.
As the doors opened, more than a quarter of the new team have signed up to undertake apprenticeship qualifications alongside their paid roles.
It was this commitment to promoting new job opportunities to residents of Central London, as well as the career opportunities that can come from working in hospitality, that was a theme of the opening event.
Whitbread has worked closely with Westminster Council’s Employment Service and the Job Centre Plus to recruit for the new Marylebone hotel, holding multiple recruitment days in Westminster to attract residents to work at the new hotel.
Speaking to the new team, Councillor Sara Hassan, Deputy Cabinet Member for Skills and Equalities, at Westminster City Council said:
“It is wonderful to see the Whitbread group prioritising recruitment of local people to work in their new Marylebone hotel. The Council works to connect our residents with the career opportunities offered by prominent brands such as Premier Inn across Westminster, and this is a great example of how businesses are working with us to ensure local people have the first choice of new jobs.”
The hub by Premier Inn Marylebone hotel is the latest in a series of investments by Whitbread in the City of Westminster as it seeks to grow the presence of Premier Inn in the heart of central London.
Launched in 2013, hub by Premier Inn hotels offer compact bedrooms – approximately half the size of a ‘standard’ Premier Inn room – with a contemporary design style, a focus on technology and a relaxed ‘Lounge’ style food and beverage (F&B) offering.
Including the Marylebone location, Whitbread currently operates eight Premier Inn and ‘hub’ hotels in the City of Westminster, offering guests a choice of more than 1,600 hotel bedrooms, and employing more than 300 people. Apprenticeship placements are being run from most of these trading hotels.
Hester King, Project and Programme Manager for Whitbread, said:
“hub by Premier Inn Marylebone sets a new standard for branded budget hotels in central London. It is in a superb location, a few hundred metres from tube and rail connections, with all the amazing businesses in Marylebone and Paddington a short distance away.
“It is also a first for the hub by Premier Inn brand in offering skyline views of the capital – a unique feature of the location that I think will go down very well with our guests. We are all extremely proud of this latest addition to our network of hub by Premier Inn hotels in central London and are grateful to everyone who helped us to deliver it.”
The hub by Premier Inn Marylebone hotel is located on the corner of Old Marylebone Road and Marylebone Road. Whitbread acquired the location as a vacant office building and secured planning permission to comprehensively redevelop the site in December 2019.
Between the wars, the site housed the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital and a sculpture by artist Mila Furstova commemorating the history of the location is installed on the eastern elevation of the new hotel building.
