Premier Inn News
Unite calls on Whitbread to improve staff conditions at Premier Inn
Unite has called on Premier Inn-owner Whitbread to end exploitative work practices and its ‘work until you drop’ culture. The move comes after Channel 4’s Dispatches lifted the lid on worker abuse at the hotel chain.
Crozier appointed chairman of Premier Inn-owner Whitbread
Whitbread has confirmed company chairman Richard Baker will be retiring from the board at the next financial year end, February 28th, having completed nearly nine years service on the board, including the last four years as chairman. He will be succeeded by Adam Crozier, currently the senior independent director.
Premier Inn reaches 750 property milestone with Chiswick opening
Premier Inn has officially opened its 750th hotel, in Chiswick. The £28.3 million addition to the estate expands on the brand’s portfolio in the capital and supports Premier Inn’s ambition to be everywhere that business travellers need to be.
Premier Inn partners with Sabre
Sabre Corporation and Premier Inn International have entered into a strategic technology agreement under which Premier Inn will implement Sabre’s SynXis Enterprise Platform across the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia.
Travelport links for distribution deal with Premier Inn
Travelport and Premier Inn, the UK and Ireland’s biggest and fastest growing hotel company have announced a new distribution agreement that will make the hotel chain’s properties available to Travelport-connected travel agencies worldwide. Jackie Usher, head of sales at Premier Inn, said: “We are pleased to announce that our agreement will see Premier Inn content available to Travelport connected agents worldwide.”
Premier Inn outlines employment expansion plans
Premier Inn has announced it will create 8,000 new jobs over the next five years due its rapid expansion plans, with the chain planning to open a new hotel every ten days. The announcement was made at the official opening of Premier Inn’s latest hotel, London City (Monument), by Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants managing director, Patrick Dempsey and the minister for employment Esther McVey.
Premier Inn claims UK top spot in new survey
Whitbread’s Premier Inn brand has claimed the accolade of best known hotel brand in Britain, knocking Hilton off the top perch. The most recent quarterly update on the British Hotel Guest Survey, just published by BDRC Continental, shows Premier Inn on 58 per cent unaided awareness among business travellers, and so ahead of Hilton for the first time ever in this market segment, albeit just by a single percentage point.
Premier Inn to take advantage of Grapple app monetisation division
Grapple, Europe’s leading mobile innovation agency, is expanding the breadth of its service with the launch of a new monetisation division, the first in the UK dedicated to helping businesses make more money from mobile. The agency has hired mobile expert Jason Barrett as Director of Monetisation to head up the new service.
Tech savvy travellers invited to hub by Premier Inn
Whitbread has announced the launch of its new hotel concept, ‘hub by Premier Inn’. The new concept will target major UK city centres such as London and Edinburgh, with the first ‘hub by Premier Inn’ to open on St. Martin’s Lane in London in summer 2014.
Premier Inn launches new iPhone/iPad app
Premier Inn has relaunched its award-winning application for iPhone and its first application for iPad. Responsible for over 100,000 room bookings in 2012 alone, the award-winning application has been downloaded over 2,000,000 times since its launch in January 2011 and has become one of the hotel brand’s most important channels.
Premier Inn begins its innings at Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Construction work has started on the new 120-bedroom Premier Inn hotel and restaurant at the New Road ground of Worcestershire County Cricket Club. The comprehensive redevelopment also includes new conference and executive suites for the club.
Premier Inn: Exchange buildings begins its transformation
Construction work has started on the conversion of the 1970s-built office block, Exchange Buildings on Stephenson Place, into a new 140-bedroom Premier Inn hotel and restaurant.