Super budget chain easyHotel today reported total system sales up 39% to £29.7 million in the year to September.
This compares to £21.3 million achieved in the previous 12 months with trading achieved in the firm’s half of the financial year continuing into the summer period and coming in “a little ahead” of company expectations.
Like-for-like revenue for owned hotels increased by 13.7% and for franchised hotels by 8.6%.
A smooth implementation of a new booking engine and yield management system across the entire network supported the positive trading momentum and enabled the business to scale efficiently as it continues to accelerate its growth plans, the company said.
Five new hotels totalling 535 rooms were opened during the financial year – Birmingham and Manchester owned hotels and Brussels, Amsterdam Arena and Amsterdam Zaandam franchised hotels.
The group now plans to refurbish its Old Street, London; Glasgow and Croydon hotels of which Glasgow and Croydon will be completed this winter.
A new 78-room easyHotel Liverpool is expected to open next month with others under development in Ipswich (89 rooms), Barcelona (204 rooms), Leeds (93 rooms) and Sheffield (131 rooms). All four hotels are due to open during 2018.
A 25-year lease was signed in June for the development of a purpose-built easyHotel in Oxford with 180 rooms expected to open in the second half of 2019.
A further 2,569 owned rooms are under negotiation of which 1,223 have board approval.
New franchised hotel projects are under construction in Lisbon (101 rooms), Bernkastel-Kues (100 rooms), Reading (54 rooms), Belfast (81 rooms) and Dubai (300 rooms) and are anticipated to open over the course of 2018. A franchisee in Istanbul continues to look for a suitable going concern property.
New master development agreements were also signed to develop the easyHotel brand in Iran and Sri Lanka.
Chief executive, Guy Parsons, said in a trading update: “It has been a year of accelerated growth for the group, endorsing our strategy of offering comfortable, affordable accommodation in key tourist and business locations in the UK and internationally.
“The strong like-for-like performance of both our owned and franchised hotels and their continued outperformance against the market is very encouraging.
“We are particularly pleased by the performance of our newly opened hotels, designed in our stylish new brand format, which are proving popular with our customers and trading ahead of expectations.
“Our network, including pipeline hotels, has increased by more than 1,100 rooms, or 32%, during the financial year, with 2,270 rooms now open (25 hotels), and a committed pipeline of 2,400 rooms. The Board is confident that we are very well positioned to continue expanding into the near future.”
Full year results are due to be released on December 6.