EasyHotel to build 120-room hotel in central Cardiff

AIM-listed easyHotel has acquired a central site in Cardiff to develop a new 120-bedroom freehold hotel, subject to planning permission.

Located at Fitzalan Place, just 0.3 miles from Cardiff Queen Street Station, the site is between the city centre and Cardiff Bay, which has been redeveloped into one of the city's main leisure areas, with a number of bars, restaurants, cinemas and visitor attractions, including the Dr Who experience at the BBC Roath studios.

EasyHotel said an office block will be demolished to make way for the new, purpose built hotel, which is expected to open in 2019. The total forecast cost of acquisition and construction will be around £8m.

The Cardiff site takes easyHotel's pipeline of owned/leased projects to 895 rooms in addition to the 1,636 franchise rooms under development.

Chief executive officer Guy Parsons said: "We are delighted to be investing in Cardiff, a well-connected modern city that attracts 20 million visitors each year. This acquisition is part of our ongoing strategy of offering comfortable, affordable accommodation in key tourist and business locations in the UK and internationally.

“We expect easyHotel Cardiff to attract a variety of leisure and business customers and look forward to being part of the City's ongoing growth and success."

At 0905 BST, the shares were down 0.7% to 114.25p.