Hilton, Butlins left fuming over business rates snub Hospitality Hilton and Butlins have been left fuming after being snubbed by Andy Burnham’s pledge to slash business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues. The two hospitality giants said that hotels and resorts have been unfairly ignored by successive government interventions to cut the business rates bills of hospitality firms. Stephen Cassidy, senior vice president [...]
Whitbread food sales slump after revealing exit from restaurant arm Hospitality Whitbread has seen food and drink sales slump after it revealed its divisive decision to sell its restaurants and pivot to a hotels-only business. The Premier Inn owner said food and drink sales fell by five per cent to £148m in the three months to the end of May, compared to a three per cent [...]
Vino by the waves: The best British seaside hotels for wine Life&Style English summertime means visits to the seaside, ideally with a glass of wine in hand. Having toured the coast recently here are some of the best places to drink with a view of the waves. The Terrace Rooms & Wine – Ventnor, Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight has a new destination for wine [...]
Whitbread: Activist investor pushes for sale of FTSE 100 Premier Inn owner May 18, 2026 An activist investor with a major stake in Premier Inn’s owner Whitbread has called for the FTSE 100 firm to put itself up for sale, attacking its “chronic misallocation of capital”. Corvex Management, which owns 11.8m shares – around seven per cent – in Whitbread, has issued a scathing rejection of the firm’s latest cost-saving [...]
IHG: Holiday Inn owner braces for 50 per cent Middle East hit May 7, 2026 Holiday Inn owner IHG expects to see a 50 per cent hit to its operations in the Middle East, as the Iran war wreaks havoc on global travel. Intercontinental Hotels Group said revenue per available room in the Middle East slumped to a 26 per cent year-on-year fall in March, reversing the nine per cent [...]
Whitbread to cut nearly 4,000 jobs in £2bn cost saving plan April 30, 2026 Whitbread is to slash nearly 4,000 jobs as part of plans to offload restaurants and sell off the freehold rights to its hotels, in a bid to raise £2bn. Shares in the company slipped on Thursday after it announced the plans to raise £1.5bn by selling off the freehold rights to a raft of its [...]
Old school glamour returns to The Langham with Sale e Pepe Mare April 30, 2026 From champagne trolleys to tableside theatre, Sale e Pepe Mare at The Langham shows hotel restaurants can be fun and fabulous.
Whitbread hopes to win back investors with £1.5bn property sell-off April 29, 2026 Premier Inn owner Whitbread will hope to win back investors when it announces a £1.5bn sell-off of a shedload of its property portfolio on Thursday. The FTSE 100 giant is gearing up for its full-year results later this week, and aims to please its investors with a cash injection to turn the corner on a [...]
‘Relentless pressures’: More hospitality firms forced to shut even before Iran war April 17, 2026 The rate of corporate collapse in hospitality surged in February in signs the sector was struggling to stay afloat even before the Iran war brought further cost pressures. The number of accommodation and food service firms declaring insolvency jumped by 22 per cent to 270 in February, according to government data. This acceleration of the crisis [...]
I’m a hotel expert. Here’s why I hate in-room technology April 17, 2026 At the newly opened Treehouse Hotel in Manchester, the rooms are designed to look like… well, treehouses. But the feeling of arboreal living was disrupted when I tried to order room service, which you must do through the TV. It didn’t work. I was no longer in a treehouse. I was in a hotel, unable [...]