Continental expansion as easyHotel completes €145m deal

Budget chain easyHotel has acquired eight franchised Benelux hotels for €145 million.

The properties acquired total 793 rooms, with three hotels in Amsterdam, two in The Hague, one in Rotterdam, one in Maastricht and one in Brussels.

The deal was concluded with real estate private equity fund manager Crossroads Real Estate.

Two further hotels are to be added to the portfolio in Dublin in December and Paris in early 2023.

The Benelux acquisition underpins growth in easyHotel’s owned/leased estate which is set to total 26 hotels, split evenly between the UK and the rest of Europe, with the total number of owned hotel rooms across the portfolio increasing by 59% to 3,078 rooms.

The company currently has a total of 42 owned/leased and franchised hotels, which it aims to expand to 51 in 13 countries over the next 18 months. It aims to reach a total of 100 owned and franchised hotels internationally by 2026. 

EasyHotel also remains committed to its franchised network, which is instrumental to its growth strategy, with a target of 12,000 franchised rooms by 2027. 

The next franchise hotel opening will be Madrid, with a 230 rooms in late 2022.

The expansion follows a €50 million capital increase with the introduction of majority shareholders ICAMAP and Ivanhoé Cambridge in December 2021

Chief executive Karim Malak said: “This strategic acquisition is an important milestone in our plan to increase our presence in continental Europe from a strong UK base. 

“Consumers place increasing importance on value, hence increasing demand for affordable hotels across Europe and the UK, a trend which we expect to continue given current inflation. 

“We are seeing strong trading and market share gain across both our UK portfolio and the Benelux hotels, with figures exceeding 2019 levels and outperforming the market. 

“Trading across our Benelux hotels has for example exceeded 2019 by 24% whilst our existing portfolio is on average up 37% compared to 2019, like-for-like.

“In December 2021, easyHotel raised €50 million to accelerate its growth plans and today’s announcement is just the start – we aim to have 100 hotels by 2026. 

“With our latest developments and our new room model, we are aiming to invent a new breed of budget hotels that are more friendly to the planet and easier to use.”