Whitbread’s property team takes the stairway to eleven in FY23/24
Whitbread PLC, the UK’s largest hotel business and owner of Premier Inn, added eleven new Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels to its UK and Ireland network during its 2023/24 financial year.
Together, the new openings take Whitbread another step closer to achieving its network target of 125,000 rooms in the UK and Ireland.
New hotels in Ireland and Central London – two important growth markets for the UK’s favourite hotel brand – featured prominently in the list of new locations added during the year.
In Ireland, the business opened three new hotels in Dublin City Centre and its first Premier Inn outside of the capital at Cork, growing its presence in the country to six hotels in total and more than 1,000 bedrooms.
On the UK mainland, Premier Inn’s UK network grew in exciting city centre locations such as Birmingham Exchange Square and Cardiff Stadium – itself the tallest Premier Inn in Wales at nineteen storeys – as well as popular gateway locations such as Abingdon on the outskirts of Oxford.
Central London locations included new hotels in Camden Town, Marylebone, and Hammersmith.
The company also launched its first hotel powered solely by renewable electricity at Swindon Town Centre in October, a proof-of-concept development for the business as it works to deliver its commitments to becoming a net zero business for its own emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 2040.
Alex Flach, UK & Ireland Development Director for Whitbread, said:
“Development is a team game, and I am grateful to everyone in the Whitbread property team and our many committed consultants, contractors, and suppliers for delivering a superb collection of new locations for our guests last financial year.
“In the year, we took Premier Inn to its most westerly location in Cork, delivered magnificent new buildings in the heart of London and other major cities, and constructed our first hotel powered solely by renewable energy, a blueprint of Premier Inn hotels to come.
“Looking down the list of new locations and it is clear how flexible we are as a business to acquiring and developing new hotels. Whether standalone, as part of mixed-use developments, in city centres or adjacent to transport arteries, we can bring our popular brands to all types of locations and will continue to do so as we expand and fulfil our network plan.”
Whitbread currently operates more than 83,500 Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn bedrooms across the UK and Ireland from 850 locations. The company has set a potential network target of 125,000 bedrooms in the same markets as it responds to high demand and a changing hospitality marketplace.
The latest location targets for Premier Inn in the UK and Ireland are available at www.whitbread.com/property. Whitbread’s FY23/24 financial year ran from 3rd March 2023 to 29th February 2024.
