Whitbread has said it was “surprised” by the recovery of domestic hotel stays, as it raises expansion plans.
The Premier Inn owner, whose hotels were closed between January and mid-May by the pandemic, boasted sales of £662m in the six months to August. That was 163% higher than the same period for 2020, but still 39% lower than H1 2019.
Pretax losses, which were £725m a year ago, have now narrowed to £19.3m. It still has some ground to cover before it returns to the £220m profit announced in 2019.
Whitbread said it plans to spend between £350m and £450m next year opening 3,500 new hotel rooms in the UK. It had previously capped the expansion at 3,000.
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