EasyHotel heralds ‘transformational year' after 42% portfolio boost

EasyHotel has welcomed a "transformational year" in its year-end trading update following a 42% boost to its portfolio and accelerated growth in its pipeline.

Total system sales rose by 25% to £37m for the year ending 30 September 2018 - jumping from £29.7m the year before.

And like-for-like revenue in its franchised hotels rose by 12% as part of what the company called a "strong performance across the portfolio". Revenue per available room also rose by 11% as the group's owned sites outperformed the market for a third consecutive year.

The company opened five new hotels across the period, making up 620 rooms, in Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield and Barcelona - their first owned site in continental Europe.

They are now set to expand further with another 297 rooms on four sites based in Belfast, Reading, Scheveningen Beach, Holland and Maastricht, Netherlands.

Guy Parsons, chief executive officer of easyHotel plc said: "Whilst we are mindful of the current economic uncertainty facing the UK, our simple, stylish and highly affordable customer proposition resonates well with today's cost-conscious traveller and has underpinned strong RevPar growth over the period.

"The team has worked hard to deliver on an ambitious opening programme across the UK and Europe, which has seen the number of owned hotels in our portfolio double over the course of the financial year and our network of rooms across the UK and Europe increase by 42%, including the opening of easyHotel Barcelona, our first owned hotel in Continental Europe.

"The successful placing completed in March 2018 has enabled us to accelerate our growth plans. We are focussed on expanding our developments as well as balancing our strong UK pipeline with a growing number of exciting European opportunities, creating value for our shareholders and underpinning the long-term growth of the brand."

Get The Caterer every week on your smartphone, tablet, or even in good old-fashioned hard copy (or all three!).