Whitbread-owned Premier Inn, a budget hotel chain with its headquarters in Luton, UK, has reported strong sales growth in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.
The hotel brand reported sales growth of 14 percent during the 11 weeks to February 14, Whitbread’s fourth quarter. Total room nights sold by the brand in the first 50 weeks of the year were up by 11.2 percent to 13 million.
Revenue per available room (revPAR) grew by 1.6 percent, and occupancy grew by 1.1 percent, to 77.4 percent. The company’s UK regional revPAR was only down by 0.3 percent for the quarter, compared to a comparable industry average reduction of 0.9 percent. Meanwhile, the company’s London revPAR was up by 2.2 percent, compared to a decline for the sector as a whole of 5 percent.
Andy Harrison, the chief executive of Whitbread, commented, ‘For the financial year to date, Whitbread has again delivered outstanding organic growth in a flat consumer market, growing total sales by 14.8 percent. Our strong brands continue to win market share, supported by our highest ever guest satisfaction scores and rapid expansion of our network.
During the fourth quarter, we maintained our strong momentum with total sales growth of 16.9 percent, although the headline like-for-like sales growth of 2.7 percent was slightly suppressed by adverse weather conditions in January, particularly affecting the restaurants business.
Premier Inn continued to outperform its competitive set and delivered total sales growth of 14.1 percent, together with like-for-like sales growth of 2.9 percent.
We see no change to market conditions, although we expect a more competitive environment. We shall continue to deliver good organic growth and are on track to achieve our 2016 growth milestones.’
