UK-based budget hotel brand, Premier Inn, has announced plans to launch in the Far East.
The company, which currently operates 630 properties and 49,000 rooms across the UK, Middle East and India, announced today that it has set up a new Asia Pacific hub in Singapore. This is Premier Inn’s third regional hub following Dubai and New Delhi, and the company will use it as a base from which to develop new East Asian partnerships and properties. Premier Inn is part of the Whitbread Group.
“We are excited at the prospect of bringing our success in the UK and other international markets to Asia,” said Erik van Keulen, Premier Inn’s new Senior Vice President of Development for Asia Pacific, who will be overseeing the company’s regional expansion.
“Having grown into one of the largest hotel owners in the world over the past 25 years, Premier Inn understands the challenges of building and planning new economy hotels. With our resources fully dedicated towards growing a single hotel brand, Premier Inn offers a uniquely strong investment proposition to local partners to deliver the signature Premier Inn experience in their respective markets,” he added.
The company’s key selling points include offering queen-size beds, family rooms with double beds and roll-outs for kids, high quality duvets and pillows, en-suites with baths and showers, flat screen TVs with international channels, toiletries, hair dryers and tea and coffee making facilities.
Guests also receive breakfast, with most properties featuring their own restaurants and bars.
While the company has not revealed which markets it is looking at expanding into, it did say that “Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia” would suit international travellers, while Vietnam is also fuelling the region’s tourism growth. And van Keulen believes that there is still significant space in Asia’s budget hotel sector in which to expand.
“In Asia, the majority of international hotel chains have focused on the luxury segment, and hence the budget travel segment is still in its infancy in this part of the world. Premier Inn’s promise of a great night’s sleep and comfortable stay at affordable prices will appeal to a rapidly expanding segment of budget leisure and business travellers,” he said.