Premier Inn’s owner, Whitbread, is launching a no-frills hotel chain with small pod-style rooms as the company seeks to refocus its business after the sale of its cafe chain Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola.
Called Zip by Premier Inn, the new hotels will be located on the outskirts of major towns and cities. Rooms will cost from £19 and be less than half the size of a standard Premier Inn room, at 8.5 square metres.
Premier Inn is Britain’s biggest budget-hotel chain. Whitbread said the new spin-off from its main brand would cater for the “ultra-price-sensitive customer”.
The Zip rooms have been created by Priestmangoode, the design consultancy behind first-class cabins for airlines including Air France, Lufthansa and Swiss. The rooms feature lightboxes, en suite power showers, 24-inch televisions and twin single beds that can be pushed together to create a double.
The first Zip hotel, with 138 rooms, will open in the Roath district of Cardiff early next year. Whitbread has secured a second site in Southampton, where 140 rooms are planned.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
