Whitbread Plc, the parent company to Premier Inn, the UK’s largest hotel business, has strengthened its property acquisition team to drive the expansion of Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn across the UK and Ireland.
Jill Anderson, who joins the business as a property acquisition manager from Costa Coffee, will lead the expansion of Premier Inn in the north of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
The appointment follows Whitbread’s announcement of a new long-term network target for Premier Inn in the UK and Ireland of 125,000 bedrooms – equivalent to a 17% market share – made during Whitbread’s FY23 interim results announcement to the City on 25th October 2022.
Whitbread currently operates a network of 82,700 hotel rooms in the UK and Ireland with a further 8,875 bedrooms in its committed development pipeline. The business is on course to open between 1,500 and 2,000 new Premier Inn rooms this financial year and will return to opening 2,000 to 3,000 rooms per year going forward.
Jill brings more than 25 years’ experience working in property acquisition and development. Prior to joining Whitbread, Jill spent close to ten years at Costa Coffee expanding the store estate in the south-west preceded by similar roles at Tesco and Somerfield. She started her career in private practice in London and the north-east.
Whitbread’s new long-term expansion targets for Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn are being driven by structural changes in the UK hotels market. The company believes the supply of hotel bedrooms is 4% lower that it was pre-pandemic, creating a favourable market backdrop and providing opportunities for Premier Inn to grow market share.
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