Whitbread appoints four to its property team

Whitbread has announced the appointment of Will Steward, Rowan Edwards, James Hall and Quinten Barker to its property team to support the construction and acquisition of new Premier Inn and Hub by Premier Inn hotels across the UK and Ireland. 

Steward and Edwards have joined the business as construction project and programme managers working in the UK regions and Ireland to deliver Whitbread’s pipeline of more than 7,200 committed pipeline bedrooms. 

In London, Hall has joined the team as an acquisition development manager with a remit to help grow the estate of Premier Inn and Hub by Premier Inns in the capital – a strategic growth market for the business. 

Meanwhile, Barker, who is the group’s first property degree apprentice, joined the team in September from its customer contact centre. 

The appointments at Whitbread come as it hopes to grow its network of almost 84,000 open bedrooms to a portfolio of potentially 125,000 rooms. 

During the first half of FY24, the group added 430 bedrooms to its portfolio. 

Alex Flach, development director of Whitbread UK&I, said: “Whitbread is uniquely placed to continue the rapid growth of Premier Inn in the UK and we need good, experienced people to help us deliver our expansion plans. 

“The three senior hires we have made this autumn will help our established team build out and replenish our development pipeline, and we are investing in the future of the team with a new property apprenticeship role.”

He added: “I see huge potential for us over the next few years as Whitbread’s unique ownership model allows us to deliver our own secured pipeline and bring in new exciting locations for our guests, and I’m looking forward to working with my new colleagues to achieve these important objectives.”