‘Super-budget' easyHotel claims to outperform competitors in Q2
"Super-budget" hotel brand easyHotel claims its owned hotels have outperformed their competitors in the second quarter of the financial year, as it reported an increase in like-for-like revenue of 8% in the six months to 31 March 2016.
That's according to the company's latest trading update, which compared its performance with the same period a year ago.
Franchise hotel trading, central overheads and pre-opening costs were all "in line" with the board's expectations during the period.
The company is aiming to become "the leading branded super-budget hotel" chain in the UK and Europe.
Since the start of the financial year, it has extended its owned and franchised development pipeline, with the addition of six new hotel projects.
In the UK, a new development in Liverpool is expected to open by January 2017 and in Manchester by April 2017.
Further acquisitions in Birmingham and Ipswich announced in January 2016 remain subject to planning permission, with the hotels expected to open by March and June 2017 respectively.
The company said its acquisition of land in L'Hospitalet de LLobregat, Barcelona, Spain is "progressing as anticipated". Its first owned hotel outside the UK is expected to open in early 2018.
Meanwhile, its Benelux franchisee is expected to open easyHotel Amsterdam and easyHotel Brussels by early 2017, and in the Middle East, easyHotel's recently appointed development partner is continuing to progress towards its target of 600 rooms in the UAE and Oman by December 2017, having received planning permission for the first 300-room hotel at Bur Dubai.
easyHotel has also made a number of appointments to support its planned growth, including a UK development director in late February 2016, as well as an operations director, a project manager and a human resources manager.
Guy Parsons, chief executive, said: "We are very pleased to report that during the first half of the financial year our operational initiatives and strategic focus have had a positive impact, earlier than originally anticipated, on our trading performance and expansion of our development pipeline.
"There remains further scope to improve our revenue. With the right management team in place we can now expand our owned and franchised network in line with our exciting business plan."
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