Premier Inn owner Whitbread is feeling positive about the summer season after what it described as “very strong” leisure demand across coastal and other tourist locations throughout the summer.
Around 98% of UK hotels and restaurants are now open with accommodation sales down 60.9% in the quarter, compared with the same period in 2019.
"The group traded significantly ahead of the market during the quarter, despite the impact of the UK government restrictions that were in place for the majority of the first quarter,” Alison Brittain, CEO said.
The story is slightly less rosy in Whitbread’s nascent German business where only 19 of 30 hotels were open. Occupancy levels were described as “improving in a challenging but recovering market”.
“In Germany, we now have a business of scale with a national footprint. Our accelerated pipeline growth saw 3 new hotels added, taking our open and committed pipeline to 73 hotels, and we continue to assess opportunities to grow the pipeline through both organic and non-organic routes,” Brittain said.
“As in the UK, the German hotel market is recovering, and we anticipate a steady improvement in occupancy rates in our 30 operational hotels as we move through the summer.”