The leaders are French but the growth is British and German. In 2014, Premier Inn posted the fastest supply growth in the EU. It is followed by Ibis and Motel One. The list of the 10 fastest-growing chains in the EU offer meaningful insights about structural trends in the European hotel industry.
MKG Hospitality's 2015 ranking of hotel chains and groups in Europe highlights several noteworthy trends. The leader in terms of growth is British : Premier Inn added more than 4,300 rooms to its inventory in 2014. Through its development in the UK, the brand of the Whitbread group surpassed the net number of new rooms in Europe created by Ibis brands, although Ibis continues to lead in terms of available supply with close to 130,000 rooms in the EU on January 1, 2015. Premier Inn's growth is the result of the current growth dynamic on the United Kingdom's hotel market. This trend also benefits IHG's umbrella brand Holiday Inn, which posts the 10th strongest annual growth in volume as it added 1,400 rooms in the EU.
Germany's market is also on the move. German operator Motel One posts the 3rd strongest growth in supply with 2,867 additional rooms, up +28.9% for the year 2014, and has now entered an expansion phase outside its home territory (Austria, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Benelux, and soon Spain and Poland…). Brands from other nationalities also record strong growth thanks to strategic deals in Germany: the Israeli group Fattal Hotels bought an important hotel real estate portfolio in 2013 that it converted into Leonardo Hotels, while the brand Wyndham Hotels benefits from the partnership signed between its American parent company and the German real estate group Grand City. Finally, the French brand B&B Hotels, which marks the fourth strongest supply growth in Europe, also grew its supply significantly in Germany, in addition to France.
The German group TUI invested in growing its hotel supply in Greece and Cyprus, through its fast growing brand Atlantica Hotels & Resorts. Globally, 2014 was marked by a return to growth in the supply of several resort brands in Southern Europe, particularly in Greece, Spain (Hoteles Globales, Hipotels) and Portugal (with Pestana, not among the top 10). As the prices at these destinations are very competitive, the return to a positive dynamic for the supply of some resort chains in Southern Europe is a structural support for new records in international arrivals that are being reported every month in Southern Europe.
Georges Panayotis, CEO and founder of MKG Group, remarks: "The British and German markets are experiencing strong growth and Southern Europe is at last reaping the fruit of major adjustments. France's actors are still too hesitant, however. Overall, Europe's tourism industry is on track to post solid performance in 2015 thanks to ongoing expansion of both supply and demand."
These trends changed the ranking of the leading hotel groups in Europe: UK-based IHG has climbed to second place ahead of Best Western and Louvre Hotels, while Accor remains Europe's steadfast leader. As a group, Whitbread remains 5th in the EU. Strong growth by +7.3 at the American group Hilton raised it up a notch. The same is true for the Spanish group Meliá, while Carlson Rezidor focused its global growth on other markets. The French group B&B Hotels rose one notch to 16th place among European groups in 2015.
The complete tables ranking are available here :
