Whitbread, owner of Premier Inn, has bought two trading hotels in Bristol and Plymouth from Future Inns and will convert both to Premier Inn before the end of the year. The company announced the purchase on 1 October and said the transaction was set to complete on 2 October 2026.

The two purpose-built hotels add 292 bedrooms to Premier Inn’s UK network. Whitbread acquired them freehold from Future Inns, which it describes as a Canadian-based hotel company. The price was not disclosed.

The hotels and the timetable

Whitbread’s announcement gives only the combined room count. The HVS Europe transactions bulletin for the week ending 2 October lists the Future Inn Bristol, next to the Cabot Circus shopping centre, at 149 rooms and the Future Inn Plymouth, at Plymouth International Business Park, at 143 rooms.

Whitbread intends to have 155 of the bedrooms ready to book as Premier Inn rooms on 2 November. The rebranded hotels will keep trading while the remaining rooms are refurbished, with both conversions scheduled to complete in mid-December 2026. When finished, the hotels will have the brand’s current Standard and Premier Plus rooms and its latest restaurant format.

The additions will give Premier Inn four hotels in Plymouth city centre and five in Bristol city centre, according to the company.

Why Whitbread is buying trading hotels

Alex Flach, development director for Whitbread in the UK and Ireland, said both hotels were the right size and, having been built in the mid-2000s, could be converted relatively easily to the latest Premier Inn format.

Whitbread says its Five-Year Plan combines new-build development, extensions, leasehold opportunities and hotel acquisitions. Under the plan it expects to offer 98,000 Premier Inn bedrooms across the UK and Ireland by 2031, and it sees long-term potential for 125,000 rooms in that core market. The company currently states that Premier Inn has more than 86,000 rooms across about 850 UK hotels, and 65 hotels open in Germany.

The seller

Future Inns has developed and operated three UK hotels since 2005. Del Brett, managing director of Future Inns UK Limited, said the company is now moving to the operation of its original UK property, the 197-bedroom hotel in Cardiff Bay, which will continue to trade as a Future Inn.

Knight Frank and Enterprise Hotels and Hospitality advised Future Inns. Whitbread was represented by its in-house property acquisition team.

Whitbread has not disclosed the purchase price, the conversion budget or what the change of ownership means for staff at the two hotels.

THD’s reading

The following points are THD analysis, not statements by Whitbread or Future Inns.

  • For independent owners: Whitbread has publicly asked to hear from operators reviewing their portfolios. Owners of purpose-built, mid-2000s hotels of around 140 to 150 rooms in cities where Premier Inn wants more supply now have a named freehold buyer to test pricing against.
  • For competitors: a purchase that completes on 2 October and has rooms on sale under the new brand on 2 November is a one month turnaround. That is far quicker than any new-build route, and it removes two independent mid-market competitors from Bristol and Plymouth at the same time.
  • For suppliers: refurbishing 292 rooms in about ten weeks while the hotels keep trading points to standardised, pre-ordered fit-out packages. Suppliers already inside Whitbread’s programme stand to benefit if going concern deals become a regular channel.
  • For the market: with the price undisclosed, there is no per-room benchmark from this deal. The only priced UK deal in the same HVS bulletin was a pair of leased Travelodge motorway hotels, which is not a useful comparison for city centre freeholds.