easyHotel, the budget hotel brand headed by entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has appointed a new chief executive to take charge of a major expansion programme aimed at putting value-for-money hotels into every major European city and beyond.

Simon Champion joins the easyHotel team from Deutsche Bank where he was managing director responsible for equity research on consumer companies.

He qualified as an accountant with KPMG, and for the past fourteen years has analysed the hotel industry for Deutsche Bank.

Haji-Ioannou explained: “I have asked Simon to take the lead role in developing the next phase of easyHotel strategy – in particular taking on franchisees in new markets as well as advising me on further direct investments, such as our highly successful Old Street hotel in London.

“He will of course be responsible for the efficient administration of existing franchises.

“Simon has spent a lot of his time at Deutsche Bank analysing the returns of all the major hotel brands and he can tell that the best return for your money as an investor is at the budget end of the spectrum.”