EasyHotel buys property on the French Riviera
EasyHotel has bought the 87-room Ibis Palais des Congres in Nice in the south of France, which it plans to rebrand.
The budget hotel chain said the acquisition represented a total investment of €11.7 million, including the rebrand.
It is seeking planning permission to add a further seven rooms to the property, which will open immediately following completion of the sale, which is expected to take place in October.
EasyHotel said Nice, France’s fifth largest city, attracted over 10 million overnight hotel stays in 2018.
It is home to the largest airport in France, outside of Paris, with around 14 million passengers passing through in 2018.
The hotel is centrally located, close to a range of transport facilities and a short walk from the Promenade des Anglais and the city’s popular old town.
The acquisition brings easyHotel’s owned and franchised committed development pipeline, scheduled to open in the next financial year ending September 30 2020, to 735 rooms across five hotels, with a further 976 rooms expected to open the following year.
Chief executive Guy Parsons said: "This investment in our first owned hotel in France is testament to the ambitious plans we have to develop the easyHotel brand in Continental Europe.
"We see significant opportunities to develop owned hotels in France and Spain and are confident that we will receive planning permission this autumn for the 209-room hotel close to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport that we announced last December.
"Attracting over four million visitors every year, the iconic city of Nice is famous as one of France’s premier tourist destinations, with recent years having seen significant investment in the city’s infrastructure and services. We are delighted to have secured this excellent site and look forward to announcing further opportunities in due course."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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