Premier Inn owner sets sights on Germany
The Premier Inn located in the back garden of Messe Frankfurt, the city's trade fair, has a different buzz about it compared with a typical British branch of the budget hotel chain.
Dozens of cycling fanatics from around the world, including the United States and China, have descended on the hotel's plush bar to enjoy happy hour-priced steins of cold beer and cocktails before the five-day Eurobike festival taking place at Messe this week.
It's an exciting event for Dominic Paul, the self-confessed cyclist and motorbike enthusiast who is chief executive of the Premier Inn owner, Whitbread, and has placed a big bet on the FTSE 100 group's growing German business.
The hotel chain, originally called Travel Inn, was launched by Whitbread in 1987 in Basildon, Essex, two years after the launch of Travelodge by the old Forte Group catering empire.
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