31 July 2008

Whitbread acquires Holiday Inn hotels

Whitbread has agreed to acquire 21 Express by Holiday Inn hotels from Mitchells and Butlers, in exchange for 44 pub restaurants.

The hotels will be converted to Whitbreadââ¬â¢s Premier Inn brand, bringing the total number to 550 in the UK.

The hotel and restaurant group is planning to build 4,000 more Premier Inn rooms over the next year and has been given planning permission to extend five of the 21 acquired properties, adding around 200 new rooms.

The 400 employees at the hotels will transfer to Whitbread and approximately 1300 pub restaurant employees will transfer to Mitchells and Butlers on completion, which is due on September 19, 2008.

The Whitbread pub restaurants to be exchanged are on sites where planning consent for the development of a Premier Inn has not been granted.

Whitbread chief executive Alan Parker said: ââ¬ÅâœAcquiring this well located, modern hotel estate will enable us to rebrand quickly, drive occupancy, increase profits and extend the number of rooms at these hotels by at least 20 per cent.ââ¬~

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