Contact:
Wolfgang Ludwig
Phone: +49 221 29219282
E-Mail: mail@ludwig-km.de
- real estate
- tourism and leisure
- Frankfurt/Main
- Germany
- Whitbread PLC
- Premier Inn
- Hospitality
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| Reiner Nittka, Board Member of GBI AG |
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Berlin/Frankfurt on the Main/London (pts010/05.11.2014/09:40) - The budget hotel chain which belongs to Whitbread PLC, the largest hotel, coffee shops and restaurant group in the UK, is now expanding to continental Europe. The first property in Germany with 210 rooms will open in Frankfurt's Europaviertel. There, Whitbread cooperates with the German property developer GBI AG which constructs the hotel. "We had intensive talks with Premier Inn over a long period and were in a position to make available to them the ideal project", explains Reiner Nittka, Board Member of GBI AG.
Welcoming the outcome of the negotiations, Mark Anderson, Managing Director Commercial & Property at Whitbread PLC, said: "The location of the site close to the trade fair ground and the financial centre of the booming city within walking distance - that exactly is the quality we had wished for our first project in Germany. To ensure a successful market entry, with GBI AG we have chosen the most experienced hotel developer in Germany." Also GBI's long experience with budget hotels and its good performance record in the markets of the major German cities had been an important criterion.
Mark Anderson: "I would be glad if such cooperation could become possible also with other projects." The Whitbread group plans to open a dozen new hotels in Germany in the next five years. From the perspective of Premier Inn, the hotel market of Germany still offers interesting investment opportunities, due to the low 5 per cent market penetration of branded hotels in the country and a property system similar to the UK's.
The opening of the Hotel is scheduled for late in summer next year. It is Premier Inn's budget philosophy to offer high-quality accommodation at affordable prices. All hotels of the chain feature a bar and a restaurant either in the building itself or next door. In the Frankfurt Property, Whitbread, owner of the coffee house chain Costa Coffee, will set up its first German store, intending to expand from there. In the first six months of 2014, total Costa Coffee sales rose by 16.9 per cent. In the UK alone, Costa is heading for 2.200 stores by 2018. Only recently, the chain opened new outlets in China and France.
Whitbread PLC will not only expand in Germany, but also extend its leading market position in the UK, seeking to achieve an increase of the number of rooms from 52,000 rooms now to 75,000 by 2018. In the first six months of 2014, Premier Inn could register a sales plus of 14.7 per cent. Occupancy is at a record 84 per cent.
About GBI AG Gesellschaft für Beteiligungen und Immobilienentwicklungen (company for investments and property developments)
GBI AG develops property projects primarily in the areas of hotel and housing construction, either on its own or with partners. Since the company was founded in 2001, hotel and apartment projects worth approximately 800 million euros could be sold and/or placed. Since 2010, GBI AG has stepped up its commitment to the development and construction of student apartments. Under the brand name "SMARTments", more than 1,000 apartment places are planned for Hamburg, Frankfurt/M., Darmstadt, Mainz and Cologne by 2015. Meanwhile, two other project development areas have emerged within the SMARTments line of brands: SMARTments business and SMARTments living. Parent companies of GBI AG with 50% participation each are Frankonia Vermögensverwaltungs- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft (asset management and investment company) and Moses Mendelssohn Vermögens-Verwaltungsgesellschaft GmbH & Co. KG (asset management company). Board Members of GBI AG are Ralph-Dieter Klossek (Spokesman for the Board) and Reiner Nittka.
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