The easyHotel “super-budget” hotel chain, founded by easyJet’s Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has said it wants to open a branch in Leicester.
The chain, known for its cheap and cheerful accommodation and bright orange branding, is considering opening a 100 bedroom hotel in the city as part of big expansion plans.
Leicester is part of easyHotel’s plans to open another 4,500 rooms outside the capital, in hotels that it either owns outright of franchises out.
Helen Donnellan, head of inward investment at Leicester City Council, said she had met representatives of the business and looked at a few possible sites.
She said: “I actually met them at Mipim [an annual property conference in Cannes] two years ago and have since hosted them in the city a couple of times.
“As far as I know, they haven’t found the right location yet but they are still very keen.”
Read more: Here’s what new Leicester city centre coffee shop could look like
easyHotel calls itself “super-budget”
The chain offers low-cost rooms with the most simple level of services, with the aim of undercutting competitors which offer more but charge more.
The online price to book the EasyHotel in Luton next Monday, for instance, starts at £31.50 for a room with no window, plus £5 for cleaning costs and a £1.95 administration cost.
The Leicester plans were announced in a briefing report identifying almost 40 cities outside of London under consideration.
An easyHotel spokeswoman said nothing concrete was planned for the city yet.
But easyHotel chief executive Guy Parsons said the chain was outperforming the general market, which is itself growing, and was keen to expand its portfolio.
He said: “A similar market improvement has been experienced across much of continental Europe and our franchise hotels are performing in line with their respective markets.
“We remain on track to open eight new hotels, four owned and four franchised, in the current financial year and continue to make good progress in adding new projects to our development pipeline.
“Trading is in line with our expectations and we remain focused on implementation of our strategy as we continue to extend our footprint and establish easyHotel as the leading super budget hotel chain.”
Read more: New Leicester city centre coffee shop launches recruitment drive ahead of launch
Martin Peters, chief executive of tourism business body Leicester Shire Promotions, said: “I haven’t “openly” been approached by easyHotel, but in the last six weeks we’ve probably had two or three inquiries about local occupancy rates which is not unusual.
“Over the last 18 months as a whole, there has definitely been an increase in inquiries.
“The difficulty we have at the moment is because of the boost we had from the football last year, it looks as though occupancy levels here have dropped this year – but looking further back there has been sustained growth.”
The easyHotel group currently owns three hotels – with a total of 390 rooms – in London’s Old Street, Glasgow and Croydon, with a £4.5 million, 84-bedroom premises opening in Birmingham on Thursday.
There are others under construction in Liverpool, Manchester and Ipswich.
Properties have also been acquired in Sheffield and Leeds, pending planning permission, for conversion into 131-room and 94-room hotels, opening next year.
There are also 19 franchised hotels in Edinburgh, Heathrow, central London and Luton, as well as Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and other countries.
New franchises are also opening in Reading and Belfast.
Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 17-02-06
Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory – Previous Article
From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>
TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 25/17 04-06.02.17
[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS
[01] Akinci: “Last chance for Cyprus”
[02] Akinci sends a letter to Siber on the Cyprus problem
[03] Burcu: The political equality is one of the fundamental principles of the solution
[04] “Criminals fleeing British justice can no longer use Cyprus as a safe haven”
[05] Morfou was not included in the map submitted by the Turkish Cypriot side in Geneva
[06] Ozyigit: Cooperation exists between pro-status quo forces in Turkey and the occupied area of Cyprus
[07] Arikli said that Ankara is not pleased with the “coalition government” of the breakaway regime
[08] Hakki Onen accused the Republic of Cyprus of “lack of sensitivity” on the extraction of criminals
[09] “Citizenship was granted to five more persons”
[10] Turkish Defense Minister urges dialogue with Greece amid escalating tension
[11] “A tough campaign ahead of Turkey’s Erdogan”
[12] Results of two more opinion polls on the forthcoming referendum on the constitutional change
[13] Cavusoglu toured Latin America countries; He urged for further strategic cooperation
[14] A new tourism facility inaugurated in in occupied Komi Kepir village
[15] The breakaway regime’s exports continued to decrease in 2016
[16] A delegation from Konya held contacts in the occupied area of Cyprus
[17] Big increase in the numbers of passengers from and to the breakaway regime
[18] The construction sector in the occupied area of Cyprus has taken dangerous dimensions
[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS
[01] Akinci: “Last chance for Cyprus”
Under the above title, Turkish daily Cumhuriyet newspaper (online, 05.02.17) published an interview with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci by saying “Our generation is making the last effort”. Akinci said: “The Greek Cypriots will share with us the federal central government based on the political equality”.
Replying to the question whether the Turkish side has uneasiness, Akinci said: “We have been settled in the north of Cyprus for 43 years now. There are zones/issues that we have difficulty to share. There is separate chapter on the territorial adjustments on the negotiations that have been continuing since the late Rauf Denktas until today. Although you know that this will be discussed, there is a lot of pain on this issue”.
He further argued: “The Greek Cypriots have reservation on the issue of sharing with us. In case of a settlement, in the federal context, the state will be formed by the founding (constituent) states of both communities based on the political equality. They will share the federal central government with us based on the political equality. They will accept this and we will reach an agreement approximately to 29% on issue of territory on the context of the existing understanding. The inclination of the dominant opinion has been increased lately in the Greek Cypriot side. I do not share the view that ‘they want 100% solution, everything to be completed”. Because an agreement can be reached to 8-10 more elements/topics.”
Explaining that the Cyprus talks are continuing on the six fundamental chapters, Akinci noted within the six chapters there are 8 -10 important issues where a clear compromise could not been reached yet and in case a compromise is obtained on these matters, then there will be a referendum and the people will reveal with their votes whether they can saturate or not this agreement.
Commenting on whether this time the Greek Cypriots will be more willing at the referendum; Akinci argued that “there is relatively more willing at the Greek Cypriot side now due to the economic crisis. They entered solitary in the EU, they converted to euro, but they have not solved their problems by joining the EU. (…) The number of people, who realize that they cannot take something by being enemies forever to important countries like Turkey, has been increased. The businessmen have formed joint platforms with Turkish Cypriots, Greeks and Turkish. They have started to see more clearly the new possibilities that friendship with Turkey will bring.”
Referring to the issue of security and guarantees, Akinci said that this issue is not an issue which interests only the two communities and added: “There are five sides on this, two communities and three guarantor countries. For this reason, the five-part Cyprus Conference was convened in Geneva. If there is not a settlement, then international treaties will be continued. No one can change these treaties unilaterally. When the Greek Cypriot side said ‘I don’t like this’, these treaties could not be vanished. (…)”
Akinci further said that if there is an agreement, both they and Turkey aim to change the number of the Turkish troops that will remain in the island and added: “Under the Treaty of Alliance in 1960, there were 650 Turkish soldiers and 950 Greek ones. This number may be higher, may be more different. Regarding the guarantees, our interlocutors should understand that the Turkish Cypriots do not see anywhere else than Turkey their security. As they say to us ‘there will be the EU, this is enough for the security’. The EU does not have such mechanism yet”.
Asked if there is a plan B on the issue of army, Akinci said that he thinks that there is an atmosphere that they can reach an agreement on plan A, which is a reasonable plan. He explained that there is the treaty of alliance, reiterating that the presence of the Turkish army is very important for them.
Finally, Akinci explained how the new political system will be functioned in case of a Cyprus settlement.a
