Whitbread PLC (LON:WTB) has strengthened its hotel presence in Germany with the acquisition of 19 hotels from the Foremost Group.
The acquisition takes the Premier Inn’s owner German estate and pipeline to 52 hotels and 9,800 rooms.
Alison Brittain, chief executive, said: “The acquired hotels are all in proven prime locations, are of high quality and will appeal to both business and leisure customers.
“This acquisition significantly increases our scale, taking our presence to 19 open hotels and a pipeline of 33 more across the largest cities in Germany.”
Whitbread added that the German hotel market is 30% larger than the UK, highly fragmented and seeing a structural shift from independent hotels to branded hotels similar to the UK market’s development.
Premier Inn's strong quality and value credentials provide a long-term opportunity to establish a major hotel brand, Brittain added.