"I want America and I'm going to get it". A year after unveiling its desire to expand in the United StatesB&B HOTELS is turning its ambitions into reality with the signing of its first hotel in Orlando. Located close to Universal Studios, the airport and the Orlando Convention Center, this 218-room hotel will be completely renovated in the coming months before being rebranded as a B&B hotel next summer. This hotel is a testament to the group's expertise, and it intends to challenge the competition, in the birthplace of budget hotelsAmerican players whose " is quite impoverishing" explained its CEO Fabrice Collet last year in an interview with Voyages d'Affaires.
Backed by Goldman Sachs, its majority shareholder, and supported by its real estate partner Batipart, the French hotel operator is initially focusing its American expansion on Florida, where two other openings are expected in the near future. in Miami and Jacksonville. Indeed, the Sunshine State, with its major motorways and large population, has the same characteristics as the regions where B&B has historically developed, such as Brittany and the Rhine Valley, where customers have become accustomed to seeing its logo along the roads.
While waiting to conquer new territories across the Atlantic, B&B adds another major country on its roll, the United Kingdom. This expansion, announced last year, will soon take shape with the acquisition of a hotel strategically located for business travellers near Heathrow airport. The UK market boasts several major players, Premier Inn but also Travelodge, not to mention the Accor brands, B&B Hotels has made no secret of its desire to have its own brand in the UK. a solid presence" said Patrick O'Connell, CEO of B&B HOTELS UK.
With these two new destinations, the group is now established in 17 countries with more than 770 hotels. The total is growing all the time, with 170 new hotels opened in the last two years and many more to come. Fabrice Collet has reaffirmed the group's objective of " to become the leader in responsible budget hotels and to count on 3,000 hotels within 10 years" .
In this context, while establishing itself in new markets, B&B HOTELS is continuing to accelerate its development in all the countries where the group is already present. These include, of course, France, where the hotel operator is set to rapidly expand its presence. pass the 400 mark. With the recent openings of B&B Compiègne Thourotte and B&B Saint-Pierre-en-Faucigny Bonneville, its portfolio now totals 396 hotels. And all this while awaiting new developments, notably in Basel-Mulhouse airportbut also in Brest. For a fourth hotel in the city where the hotel chain was born.
