City Inn set to grow overseas
Boutique business hotel operator City Inn has announced a £330m expansion plan for the next four years, which will see its first properties developed overseas.
Chief executive David Orr said that a 550-bedroom hotel in Amsterdam will be the company's debut project overseas. He hoped to acquire sites in all the major European cities, citing Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Milan.
Three new hotels in the UK are also planned - a 600-bedroom new-build hotel near the Tower of London, a 330-bedroom hotel in Leeds and a 280-bedroom property in Manchester, which is due to open next year.
Orr said that the new developments, which are being funded through a joint venture with Bank of Scotland, would follow the City Inn model.
"We really need to get on with developing the company and we are very keen to develop in Europe," Orr said, "although we are opportunistic and would also like to enter the US market."
