EasyHotel to develop 10 outlets with Eclipse

The budget hotel chain has signed a £60m franchise agreement with Eclipse to develop 10 hotels across the UK in the next four years.

 The deal with Eclipse, which already
operates the easyHotel Luton franchise, is part of a strategy to grow
the chain across Europe. The business has a target to have 200 hotels
under franchise within 10 years. As well as the Luton hotel, which
opened in April, Eclipse has started developing its second property,
easyHotel Heathrow, which it plans to open in October.
Lawrence
Alexander, who was brought in to oversee easyGroup's hotel venture,
has been attempting to franchise the chain across Europe.
It has
already signed a deal with the Dubai investment firm Istithmar,
through which it hopes to establish 35 hotels in the Middle East.
Despite speculation, the group insisted it has no plans to move into
India and Russia.
Mintel forecasts 38% growth for budget hotels
over the next five years, with the market set to hit the £1.5bn
mark by 2012. Mintel estimates competition in the sector will
increase, with key players expected to grow via the acquisition of
smaller brands.