Plans for growth by Shearings have been outlined today following its recent management buyout and investment partnership with the Moorfield Real Estate Funds.
The plans include £15 million in hotel refurbishment over the next three years, with more than £5 million planned for 2015.
The investment represents a 40% increase over this year’s spend as part of a plan to revamp more than half of the operator’s 4,000 hotel rooms across the UK by the end of 2017.
This investment follows summer passenger volumes increasing by 2% to hit a record high with hotel occupancy rates averaging 93%.
Speaking at a domestic tourism breakfast at the Travel Convention, commercial director Caroline Brown said: “Consumer confidence appears to be on the up, and in response to this we’re looking to introduce a raft of enhanced added-value services and facilities to further improve customer experience.
“These include free wi-fi across our hotels and coach interchanges, and a suite of new mobile-optimised websites featuring improved functionality – including independent reviews hosted by Feefo to help customers when researching their holiday.
“We also plan to continue upgrading our coach fleet, which has already seen us invest more than £44 million in new coaches over the last five years.
“We are currently talking to coach manufacturers about our 2015 requirements.”
She added: “New product development continues to be of huge importance to our business and recently this has resulted in the launch of ‘Your Time’ – a dedicated programme for independent travellers offered by Shearings Holidays, as well as the continued expansion of the very successful ShowTime programme introduced by our National Holidays brand.”