EasyHotel claims to be outperforming rivals in the face of consumer confidence being hit by political and economic uncertainty.
The self-styled super-budget chain revealed plans to drive more distribution through online travel agents.
Ian Coles has been recruited from Virgin Trains as trading director, having previously worked at British Airways, in a bid to also increase the percentage of direct bookings “given the market and economic uncertainties”.
This came as the company reported total sales up by 31% and revenue by 60% in the first quarter of the current financial year.
Revenue per available room (revpar) rose by 11.2%, enabling the brand to outperform the competition by 5.2%, the company revealed in a trading update ahead of its agm today.
“Despite the ongoing political and economic uncertainty that is affecting consumer confidence, particularly in the UK, the group has continued to outperform both its competitive set and the wider hotel market,” easyHotel said.
“We are now in our fourth year of market outperformance for our owned hotels.
“The board however believe that that the 2019 financial year will be more challenging than 2018 and have taken the decision to continue to drive revenue growth and brand recognition, at the expense of gross margin, through increasing the use of online travel agents as compared with prior periods.”
The company added: “Our franchised hotels performed particularly well across the UK. However, results across the wider European market were more varied, and the easyHotels in Holland performed less strongly than they had in 2018.”
CEO Guy Parsons said: “Whilst we are not immune from the ongoing political and economic challenges and their impact on the hotel sector, our robust business model means that we have continued to outperform our markets in the period.
“These current uncertainties are presenting us with opportunities, which might not otherwise be possible, to acquire sites on good terms in central locations in our core target cities, such as Dublin, Bristol and Paris Charles de Gaulle.
“Well publicised uncertainties and frequent regulatory delays can postpone completion of our hotels and how quickly they reach maturity. However, we are making good progress with our strategic priorities and are confident that the appeal of easyHotel’s super budget brand will deliver long-term growth.”
New owned hotels are being developed in Oxford, Cambridge, Chester, Cardiff, Dublin, Blackpool and Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to open in the 2020-21 financial year. These would add to properties planned for Milton Keynes and Bristol.
The group plans seven franchised hotels including openings this year in Malaga, Zurich, Basel and Amsterdam Schiphol airport plus Dubai in 2020.