Whitbread has added 1,500 rooms at a stroke to its Premier Inn portfolio in Germany, signing leases on eight new hotels.
The deal with Gorgeous Smiling Hotels will add seven operating properties and one pipeline development, across Germany and Austria. It adds to the momentum the Premier Inn brand has in Germany, where the business now has more than 70 operating locations. The room count grows to 14,000, on the way to a target of 20,000 rooms on mainland Europe by 2030.
A string of quick conversions
The conversions will see four hotels currently branded under Wyndham’s Super 8 brand, in Freiburg, Hamburg, Koblenz and Munich, convert to Premier Inn. They will be joined by two Elaya hotels, switching in Hamburg and Rostock, and the Mercure Vienna Westbahnhof.
The hotels will be taken on free of franchise commitments, allowing Whitbread to quickly convert them to the Premier Inn format, with only the shortest of temporary closures. In addition, a further hotel in Berlin’s Spandau district will open as a Premier Inn; previously, the GSH business had planned to open that property as a Super 8.
“We are particularly pleased to be expanding our portfolio in prime locations such as Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, and Vienna, while also adding new locations to the Premier Inn map with Koblenz and Rostock,” said Chris-Norman Sauer, Premier Inn property director for Germany and Austria.
The additions include two properties in the Hamburg area, a location where Premier Inn already has six hotels open, plus a further two in planning. The pipeline includes Premier Inn Hamburg Central Station, and Premier Inn Hamburg Alsterkrugchaussee, both due to open in early 2028.
In October 2025, Whitbread reported its first half performance, noting that the German market had been softer than expected, but that forward booking figures were ahead of the same time in 2024. The company expects its German business will move into profit during the current trading year. CEO Dominic Paul commented: “Our growing market share, together with the increasing maturity of our estate, means that we remain confident in fulfilling our ambition of becoming the country’s number one hotel brand, delivering significant revenue and profit growth.”
The opportunity for Whitbread came after Gorgeous Smiling Hotels agreed a merger with Aspire Hotel Group, in September 2025, at the same time folding in the business of Great2Stay Hotels. The combination created a business with 85 hotels across Germany.
Backed by an active partner
GSH combines development management, purchasing and operations of the hotels, working alongside franchise parters including InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton and Wyndham. In addition to those branded properties, the group also operates its own brands including Elaya, Arthotel ANA, Rugs Hotel, and Aspire.
Following the merger, existing partner Wyndham Hotels & Resorts already agreed a plan to brand 25 more properties, from the combined portfolio. Now, having agreed its first leases with Premier Inn, GSH has another strong brand in its growing list of operating partners.
