Acquisition of site for easyHotel in Barcelona

13 January 2016

easyHotel plc

("easyHotel", the "Group")

Acquisition of site for easyHotel in Barcelona

easyHotel, the owner, developer, operator and franchisor of "super budget" branded hotels, announces that it has agreed the acquisition of land for a new build easyHotel in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, subject to planning permission.

The project will be the Group's first owned hotel outside the UK and is in line with the Group's targeted European strategy. The planned 200-room easyHotel is expected to open in 2018. The site is located on Gran Via, the main avenue of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, with easy access to Barcelona City Centre and Barcelona Airport. The site has good transport links, with a train and Metro station adjacent to the proposed hotel, and is within walking distance of the Fira Barcelona Gran Via 240,000m2 convention centre, the Barcelona and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat City of Justice and the Gran Via shopping centre, which includes 180 shops, 24 cafes/restaurants and a 15-screen cinema. 

Subject to planning permission, the total anticipated investment on completion will be approximately €15 million.

Guy Parsons, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are delighted to be investing in our first owned property in Spain. The Barcelona region is an extremely attractive market for us, with Barcelona being the 12th most visited city in the world*.

"The strength of the "easy" brand has already driven significant appetite for our hotels from the Spanish market, with Spanish customers currently accounting for 5% of all easyHotel guests. We are confident that there is considerable opportunity to expand the easyHotel brand through a mix of owned and franchised hotels in Europe and in Spain."

* Mastercard 2015 Global destination Cities Index

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

easyHotel is the owner, developer, operator and franchisor of branded hotels. Its strategy is to target the "super budget" segment of the hotel industry by marketing "clean, comfortable and safe" hotel rooms to its customers.

Operating Hotels

easyHotel's owned hotels currently comprise 390 rooms, and it has a further 18 franchised hotels with 1,490 rooms. 

Owned hotels:

Old Street (London), Glasgow, Croydon.

Franchise locations:

Bulgaria (Sofia), Czech Republic (Prague), Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt), Hungary (Budapest), The Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague), Switzerland (Basel, Zurich), UAE (Dubai), UK (Edinburgh, London).

Hotel development pipeline

The Group's development pipeline of owned and franchised hotels currently consists of:

Owned hotels:

Liverpool (UK), Manchester (UK) and Barcelona (Spain)

Franchise hotels:

Brussels (Belgium), Middle East (UAE & Oman)

Website: www.easyHotel.com