Premier Inn’s owner, Whitbread, is launching a no-frills hotel chain with small pod-style rooms as the company seeks to refocus its business after the sale of its cafe chain Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola.
Called Zip by Premier Inn, the new hotels will be located on the outskirts of major towns and cities. Rooms will cost from £19 a night and be less than half the size of a standard Premier Inn room, at 8.5 square metres. Premier Inn prices typically start at £49 while its more upmarket brand, hub, starts at £69 a night.
Premier Inn is Britain’s biggest budget-hotel chain. Whitbread’s chief executive, Alison Brittain, said the spin-off would cater for the “ultra-price-sensitive customer looking to zip in and out”.
The Zip rooms have been created by PriestmanGoode, the design consultancy behind first-class cabins for Air France, Lufthansa and Swiss airlines. The rooms feature lightboxes, en suite power showers, 24-inch televisions and twin single beds that can be pushed together to create a double.
The first Zip hotel, with 138 rooms, will open in the Roath district of Cardiff early next year. Whitbread has secured a second site in Southampton, where 140 rooms are planned.
Zip hotels will have communal areas that serve breakfast from £3.95 and transform into a bar in the evenings, and there will be an ironing room on every floor.
Similar to no-frills airlines, there will be other optional paid-for extras. Rooms are not cleaned daily but additional cleaning can be purchased for £5 per day; wifi is free, although fast wifi costs £5 for 24 hours.
The company has nearly 800 Premier Inn hotels, including some in Germany and the Middle East. It has 10 hubs – seven in London and three in Edinburgh. Whitbread sold its Costa chain for £3.9bn to Coca-Cola in August to focus on hotels.
Five years ago, Whitbread launched hub by Premier Inn hotels – boutique-style hotels located in city centres, where rooms feature bespoke Hypnos beds, a choice of pillows, monsoon showers and 40-inch TVs.
In recent years, Premier Inn and Travelodge, the UK’s other big budget-hotel chain, have invested in custom-made kingsize beds and power showers, and moved upmarket to try to lure business travellers.
Analysts at Bernstein said: “We wonder whether the introduction of a budget brands sitting below the core Premier Inn offer is a route to increase rates at Premier Inn by improving hotel technology and rate management.”
Premier Inn’s managing director, Simon Jones, said: “We have undertaken considerable research, including having had six Zip rooms on sale to customers for many months. It’s clear through the research that people want the basics done brilliantly, such as a comfy bed and a power shower, but they are happy to compromise on location or some extras if they are paying a fantastic price for their room.”