• Whitbread Strengthens Its Property Team with Four New Appointments   

Whitbread;

Whitbread Plc, the UK’s largest hospitality group and owner of Premier Inn, has strengthened its property team with four new appointments.

The new recruits have strengthened Whitbread’s construction and property acquisition teams as the company works to grow the UK network of Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels from 91,000 open and committed bedrooms today to a network potential of 125,000 rooms.

Will Steward and Rowan Edwards have joined the business as construction project and programme managers working in the UK regions and Ireland to deliver Whitbread’s pipeline of more than 7,200 committed pipeline bedrooms.

In London, James Hall has joined the team as a Acquisitions Development Manager with a remit to help grow the estate of Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inns in the capital, a strategic growth market for the business.

And in a new role, Quinten Barker, Whitbread’s first property degree apprentice, joined the team in September from the company’s customer contact centre.

Commenting on the new appointments, Alex Flach, UK & Ireland development director for Whitbread, said:

“Whitbread is uniquely placed to continue the rapid growth of Premier Inn in the UK and we need good, experienced people to help us deliver our expansion plans.  The three senior hires we have made this autumn will help our established team build out and replenish our development pipeline, and we are investing in the future of the team with a new property apprenticeship role. 

“I see huge potential for us over the next few years as Whitbread’s unique ownership model allows us to deliver our own secured pipeline and bring in new, exciting locations for our guests and I’m looking forward to working with my new colleagues to achieve these important objectives.”

As the UK’s largest hotel group, Whitbread currently offers its guests close to 84,000 hotel rooms to book in the UK from 849 locations.  The business added 430 new UK Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn bedrooms during the first half of its 2024 financial year.