Budget chain Premier Inn saw total sales growth of 12.4% in the first quarter.
Parent company Whitbread revealed that the number of room nights sold rose by 11% to 3.3 million in the 13 weeks to the end of May.
Like for like revenue per available room (RevPAR) grew by 3% with occupancy up by 1.3 percentage points to 76.2%. RevPAR in London hotels was up by 7.3% and 2.2% in the regions.
The company, which also runs the Costa coffee chain, opened 1,109 rooms and one joint site restaurant in the quarter. It plans to open around 4,200 rooms and eight joint site restaurants by the end of the financial year.
Chief executive Andy Harrison said: “Whitbread has begun the new financial year well, with a 13.9% growth in total sales, driven by a 4.5% growth in like for like sales and the continuing expansion of Premier Inn and Costa.
“Our consistent investment in product quality and customer experience has helped our strong brands to outperform their competitors.
“In the first quarter Premier Inn grew total sales by 12.4% with revPAR growing by 2.9%, boosted by a strong April, and outperforming the midscale and economy sector where revPAR fell by 2.6%.
“Our plans for profitable growth are well established, supported by our strong balance sheet, and we plan to open 4,200 Premier Inn rooms, eight joint site restaurants and 350 new Costa stores this financial year, creating an additional 3,500 UK jobs.”
He added: “We expect comparative quarterly trading to continue to be variable.
“April benefitted substantially from a weak comparative due to the extended Royal Wedding holiday in 2011.
“For the second quarter we face tougher comparatives against a strong result last year, together with the uncertain impact of this summer’s major sporting events.”