Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:28 am
Whitbread have announced a 3rd new Premier In for Cardiff, under the new Zip brand;
Whitbread to debut budget brand Zip in Cardiff: The Times has reported Whitbread will open a new “no-frills” version of its Premier Inn brand today as it seeks to expand its hotel business with new formats after it sells Costa Coffee. The company will launch its first Zip by Premier Inn in Cardiff in February, with rooms from £19 a night, and aims to open three or four before deciding whether to introduce them more widely. Premier Inn managing director Simon Jones told The Times consumer research and a trial of six Zip rooms at its hotel in South Mimms, Hertfordshire, had established guests were willing to forgo large rooms, central locations and “bells and whistles” if it saved them money. The average price of a standard Premier Inn room is £57. The Times added: “Whitbread, which is in the process of selling Costa to the Coca-Cola Company for £3.9bn, has 789 Premier Inn hotels in Britain, six in the Middle East and one in Germany. Its Zip in Cardiff is near an industrial estate and it has secured a site in Southampton for a second one. The rooms will be roughly half the size of a standard Premier Inn room at 8.5 square metres. They are designed by Priestman Goode, the consultancy behind first-class cabins for Air France and Lufthansa.”