Premier Inn expects seaside rooms to be booked solid over summer

Summer boom for Premier Inn: Hotel chain expects seaside and rural rooms to be booked solid over summer

Alison Brittain, chief executive of the chain’s owner Whitbread, said all rooms anywhere near a beach will soon be gone

The boss of Premier Inn predicted that hotels in British rural and seaside locations will be full as families holiday closer to home this summer.

Alison Brittain, chief executive of the chain’s owner Whitbread, said all rooms anywhere near a beach will soon be gone.

People are also looking further ahead for trips, with all the rooms around Cheltenham 2022 horse racing festival sold out within 48 hours of going online.

Whitbread reported a £1billion loss for the year to March 31, after a 71.8 per cent fall in sales to £577.4million. 

Premier Inn has been closed to all but essential workers. 

Occupancy rates will not recover until restrictions are relaxed to allow weddings, parties and concerts to return and office workers are not expected to return in earnest until September.

Whitbread has taken £270million from government support schemes, and has switched 27,000 staff in and out of furlough. 

It cancelled the dividend, and shares fell 3.3 per cent, or 114p, to 3297p. 

Brittain said: ‘We’ve now got around 92 per cent of our hotels open, but only for essential business travel.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk