Whitbread has acquired 13 hotels across Germany from the Centro Hotel Group, with plans to convert them to the Premier Inn brand in the first half of 2021.

The move will increase Premier Inn’s network of open and pipeline properties in Germany to 68 locations and 12,000 rooms.

The speed of the group’s growth in the country is impressive – only last year Premier Inn was opening just its second German property in Hamburg.

Premier Inn gears up for Hamburg opening

Six of the newly acquired sites (comprising 759 rooms) are already trading under brands including Ninety Nine, Four Side, Centro and Boutique 009, with a further seven (1,175 rooms) either under construction or secured developments.

All of the locations except for Cologne and Hamburg represent new markets for Premier Inn, including Wolfsburg, Osnabruck, Karlsruhe and Heidelberg.

Whitbread said that it was seeking to “replicate the success of Premier Inn in the UK”, with Mark Anderson, Managing Director for Property and International at Whitbread, commenting:

“Our ambition is for Premier Inn to be the number one budget hotel operator in Germany, offering business and leisure travellers the high-quality, good value accommodation that the Premier Inn brand is so well known for in the UK.

“Completing the acquisition of 13 hotels from the Centro Hotel Group continues our strategy of growing Premier Inn across the country.

“The hotels match our network requirements and bring Premier Inn to many locations where we do not yet have a presence, including into a number of key towns and cities where we expect a strong demand for hotel rooms when the market recovers.

This deal demonstrates the structural opportunities that now exist in the German market which we believe we are very well-placed to take advantage of.”

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