Premier Inn's 500,000(GBP) Night Out!

By: Premier Inn | 3 Shares 157 Reads

October 15, 2008 // Franchising.com // Premier Inn, the UK's largest and fastest growing hotel chain, and part of Whitbread PLC, has donated £500,000 to Hospitality Action at their annual fundraising ball - the largest single donation received by the charity for many years.

Premier Inn chose Hospitality Action (HA) as their designated charity in 2007, and £500,000 was raised from fundraising events across all Premier Inn sites such as the 'Purple Hair Day' where all staff members wore purple wigs and took part in a range of fundraising activities. Other Premier Inn sites also made their own contributions, including sponsored walks, car washes and supermarket bag packs.

In recognition of this huge accomplishment, Premier Inn were presented with HA's President's award for the second year running. Paul Flaum and Gerard Tempest from Premier Inn stepped up to collect the award and present the cheque for £500,000. In true Premier Inn style, they topped off their Dinner Jackets with purple wigs!

Hospitality Action is the dedicated UK based benevolent organisation that offers vital employee assistance to the 2 million plus people who work in the hospitality industry through its unique life support programme. The charity receives no government funding and is supported entirely by donations and fundraising activities.

Penny Moore, chief executive of Hospitality Action said: 'We are thrilled with the donation from Premier Inn, it is the largest donation we have received in recent years and the money will benefit many people. We would like to thank Premier Inn and all its employees, all of who have put in so much effort to raise the money.'

Paul Flaum, Chief Operations Officer for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, said: 'Hospitality Action was chosen as our charity as it provides essential support and hope to those who need it in our industry. After months of determination and hard work we are proud to have raised this money for Hospitality Action - to be able to give something back to those in need within the hospitality industry is fantastic."

About Premier Inn

Premier Inn is the UK's largest and fastest-growing hotel brand with over 550 budget hotels and more than 38,000 rooms across the UK. Premier Inn bedrooms are 22m² and feature en-suite bathroom, TV, and internet access for business guests. Premier Inn offers customers a 'Good Night Guarantee' of a good quality room, comfortable surroundings and friendly service, which is unique amongst Britain's leading hotel chains.

Premier Inn was the first Britain-wide hotel group to sign up with national tourist board VisitBritain; this means Premier Inn is now part of a new quality assessment scheme, specially created for budget accommodation.

A joint venture with Emirates has seen the Premier Inn brand develop in the Gulf region, with its first budget hotel in Dubai in Spring 2008. Premier Inn also has a joint venture with Emar-MGF to roll out 80 budget hotels in India by 2017. On a domestic front, Premier Inn is set to be the largest provider of budget hotels in London by the time of the 2012 Olympics.

About Whitbread

Whitbread PLC is the UK's largest hotel and restaurant company operating market-leading businesses in the budget hotels and restaurant sectors. Its brands include Premier Inn, Beefeater, Table Table, Brewers Fayre, Taybarns and Costa Coffee.

Whitbread PLC employs over 33,000 people and serves 8.5 million customers every month in its 1,500 outlets across the UK.

In the financial year ending 28th February 2008, Whitbread PLC reported an 11.3% increase in Group Revenue to £1.18 billion and 26.3% increase in Pre-tax Profit to £210.3 million.

Whitbread PLC is a FTSE 100 company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is also a member of the FTSE4Good Index.

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