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EasyHotel has revealed it has experienced a period of strong trading that has surpassed pre-Covid levels, alongside three new appointments to its senior leadership team, as it executes its “ambitious expansion” plan to double the size of its estate by 2026.
Since the appointment of its new CEO, Karim Malak, who joined last December, EasyHotel said it has been trading above 2019 pre-Covid levels thanks to strong demand for weekend city breaks, rescheduled events and increased consumer demand for affordable hotel stays due to wider rising costs.
It confirmed RevPAR for February 2022 was up 20% vs 2019, March up 50% compared to 2019 and April up 70% on a like-for-like basis. Expected revenue for summer bookings is already currently 10% higher than summer 2019 and the company is “well placed” to benefit from the continued trend for staycations.
In 2022, EasyHotel has already added 208 rooms to its estate with its first ever Paris hotel near Charles de Gaulle airport, and a further 2,400 rooms have been secured internationally for development over the next four years. Upcoming openings this year include a new 160-room hotel in Dublin as well as a 230-room franchise hotel in Madrid.
EasyHotel has also announced three new senior appointments to the leadership team. Charles Persello has joined as CFO. Having spent almost five years at EasyHotel investor ICAMAP, it said Persello was a “natural fit” and has 11 years’ experience of investment in real estate and hospitality.
His new position will focus on optimising the £42.8m equity injection EasyHotel announced in December and leading relationships with shareholders and lenders. Prior to this, he gained experience as an asset manager at Unibail-Rodamco, a world-leading real-estate company headquartered in Paris.
Gwenaëlle Pouy has also joined as chief development officer and head of Real Estate. Pouy will lead on development at EasyHotel, including implementing the development plan to surpass 100 hotels by 2026 across owned, leased, managed and franchised locations.
Finally, Louis Poisson has joined the firm as COO. He will be focused on developing a “best-in-class” hotel management platform as EasyHotel expands internationally, improving franchisee operations and driving customer loyalty.
Most recently, Poisson has been EQ Group’s VP of Operations and a director of Operations at Adagio Aparthotels. He has enjoyed 13 years of international operational experience in the budget hotel segment, including four years at Red Planet Hotels.
Malak said: “It is fantastic that we have been trading very well this year and it gives us further confidence in our offer that we are performing above pre-Covid levels. What is great about easyHotel is our focus on value for money for guests.
“Whether it is people looking for budget accommodation, people who want to be more discerning about where they spend their money or people who just want a simple, easy room for the night, our hotels offer all of this for both business and leisure travellers.”
