News from Premier Inn

BRITAIN’S GREENEST HOTEL TO OPEN THIS DECEMBER

On Monday 8th December Britain’s greenest hotel will be opened by Premier Inn, the UK’S largest budget hotel chain. The hotel will set the standard for environmentally friendly hotels.

Guests at the 20-bed Premier Inn Tamworth (Staffordshire) will enjoy the same facilities and amenities as at a ‘normal’ Premier Inn but with the knowledge that they are sleeping ‘green’. Rooms will still cost from just £53 per night.

The building materials and technology used in the new hotel are not matched anywhere else in Britain and have been heralded as an example to other hotel chains by The Carbon Trust. The hotel will reduce energy use by 80% vs. a standard hotel; thanks to radically different approaches to heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation.

Premier Inn has over 550 hotels in the UK and says this new site at Tamworth is a flagship site for the company to trial the best green technologies available, to see which are viable for their hotels in future - a move welcomed by Building Research Establishment (BRE).

Key features of Britain’s greenest hotel include:

1. Natural Energy From the Earth – ground-source heat pumps will use the earth’s natural energy to cool and heat rooms and provide hot water throughout the hotel.
2. Re-using Water - toilets flushed with recycled water from showers and baths will save 20% of the hotel’s entire water usage and will provide 100% of the hotel’s toilet water usage
3. Inventive Insulation – sustainable sheep’s wool from British sheep is used in the walls to create exceptionally efficient thermal and acoustic insulation
4. Clever Lighting – low energy Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting with motion sensors ensures lights are only on when needed – an energy saving of 80%.
5. Here Comes the Sun - solar panels will heat bath water

Staff at the new hotel will be trained to understand the technologies behind the design and to help with minimising everyday energy and water consumption, such as in washing, water usage, excessive heating or cooling.

Guests will be able to see the energy saved as part of a visual display in the hotel lobby, as well as learn about the technologies that have gone into the new building.

Alan Parker, CEO of Premier Inn’s parent company Whitbread, says “This hotel is truly ground-breaking in that this combination of technologies has never been used before in any hotel in the UK, let alone a budget one. We chose from a range of technologies that we believe deliver the most positive social and environmental impact on future hotel buildings.

As well as designing the hotel to be energy efficient, we will also be involving our team members and customers in the green challenge. This is a unique joint approach which we will be testing in Tamworth as a first step to making more green changes across our hotel estate.”
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For more information, images or to interview a spokesperson from Premier Inn, please contact Lisa Rebak or Katy Stolliday at Frank PR on 0207 693 6999, or e-mail premierinn@frankpr.it

Notes to editors

About Premier Inn … Premier Inn is the UK’s biggest 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, part of Whitbread plc, 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.

Premier Inn has been confirmed as the leading Economy brand in the JD Power European Economy Hotel Guest Satisfaction Survey 2008. Premier Inn was awarded Best Budget Hotel at the Business Traveller Awards 2008.

www.premierinn.com