Jurys Inns today announced it has exchanged contracts on four new hotels in England and Scotland as the premium budget chain capitalises on leisure and business consumers seeking to maximize the value they achieve from their travel and accommodation.
Jurys Inns’ four new hotels will be located in Glasgow, Newcastle, Portsmouth and Bradford creating some 300 new jobs. This represents a £90 Million investment by Jurys strategic development partner, McAleer and Rushe, and the properties will be operated on long term turnkey leases.
The 830 new rooms are the launch pad for an accelerated growth strategy as Jurys Inns seeks to exploit current trends for corporate and leisure users economising on travel habits and Britons holidaying at home this summer.
The four new hotels are due to open in 2010 and come on top of a pipeline of seven new openings scheduled in 2009, beginning with the 259 room Sheffield hotel last week. This represents a significant step for Jurys Inns further consolidating the brand’s position as one of the UK’s leading premium, budget hotel brands. New hotels are:
- Bradford: 200 room, 80, 000sq ft city centre hotel in the UK’s tenth largest city at Thornton Road
- Newcastle: 200 room, 80, 000sq ft riverfront hotel beside the Baltic Mill at the heart of the popular Quayside area
- Portsmouth: 200 room, 80, 000sq ft hotel located on Station Square in Portsmouth city centre close to new £500 million Northern Quarter shopping development
- Glasgow: 230 room, 100, 000sq ft hotel located on Lancefield Street, next to the City’s Convention Centre and part of a flagship mixed use leisure and retail development
Acting Jurys Inn CEO John Brennan commented:
“It is a significant vote of confidence in the Jurys Inn brand and business model that we can announce plans for four new hotels in today’s challenging economic climate.
I am confident that our competitively priced city centre locations will benefit from research predicting that up to 50% -20Million- Britons will holiday at home this year due to the recession and strong euro.
Our positioning means we are competitive with price-conscious business users switching from four star hotels and leisure customers that still want hotel pedigree and hospitality from their weekend breaks – something missing from the UK’s no frills budget operators.”
Simon Jones, Jurys Inn Development Director, commented:
“We plan to grow the business aggressively this year and are seriously exploring increased numbers of new site opportunities emerging from the fast changing UK property market.
Developers and land owners struggling with residential or commercial projects will get a positive reception from us as we seek well located sites in prime London locations and in provincial cities to deliver our ambitious future growth plans.
We continue to look speculatively for new locations as site valuations drop and struggling 4 star hotels close. We remain proactive and hungry for development and growth opportunities as the UK hotel market consolidates.”
Eamonn Laverty, Managing Director of Mc Aleer & Rushe Group commented;
“This brings the number of new hotels developed by Mc Aleer & Rushe for Jurys to 12 during the period 2008 to 2010. This is a significant achievement when one considers the prevailing economic environment, and is further testament to our ability to acquire prime sites and deliver quality buildings within guaranteed time frames.”
For further information, please contact:
Mark Hutcheon, ReputationInc T: 0203 178 4765 or M: 07739 181 352
E: mhutcheon@reputation-inc.com
