The owner of budget UK-hotel chain Premier Inn, Whitbread Group, has reported a £725 mln (€800 mln) loss in the wake of the coronavirus crisis in its six month results, but unveiled plans to expand in Germany.
The biggest hotel operator in the UK, Whitbread owns 840 Premier Inn hotels across the country, as well as the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub-restaurant chains.
However, it was hit by a 99% collapse in sales during the UK lockdown in the spring, plunging the group into the red. The same period last year saw Whitbread reap a profit of £220 mln.
Whitbread was able to reopen its hotels and restaurants from July and said it had benefitted from a rise in UK 'staycations'. However, Whitbread chief executive Alison Brittain warned that occupancy forecasts over the winter looked bleak after the reintroduction of pandemic protocols across the UK.
Despite losses, Whitbread said it would be focusing on growth overseas in the near future. It has earmarked £40 mln to buy and refurbish 15 hotel properties in Germany in the second half of the year, where it currently has 29 sites. In total, the group said that its committed pipeline in the German market amounted to 68 hotels.
The group also reported that it was in discussions with several Travelodge landlords in the UK to convert them to the Premier Inn brand, following a year of upheaval for its domestic rival.
