* Third-quarter sales up 5%, food and beverages down 10%
* German lockdown restrictions a challenge, Whitbread says
* Company warns costs to rise in 2023
(Writes through with CEO comment, shares, analyst view)
By Pushkala Aripaka
Jan 12 (Reuters) - Premier Inn owner Whitbread
continues to expect sales at its UK hotels to return to
pre-pandemic levels during 2022 even though the spread of
Omicron coronavirus variant has affected bookings recently, the
company said on Wednesday.
The London-listed company, which also owns steakhouses
Beefeater and Bar+Block, said overall sales rose 5% in its third
quarter ending on Nov. 25, with revenue up 3.1% in the United
Kingdom, Whitbread's biggest market.
The hospitality sector was among the worst-hit during the
pandemic and supply chain issues along with tight labour markets
have created further challenges even as bookings start to
recover thanks to vaccination campaigns and looser restrictions.
Concerns about the Omicron variant then led to a spike in
hotel booking cancellations https://www.reuters.com/business/cancellations-rise-ahead-holidays-due-omicron-trivago-says-2021-12-14
globally ahead of the holiday season, online hotel search firm
Trivago said last month.
"UK accommodation sales remained resilient in December,
albeit softening as we moved through the month and into the
festive period as a result of the onset of Omicron," Whitbread
Chief Executive Alison Brittain said in a statement.
Brittain told a briefing that occupancies were also lower
after the Christmas period but said this was in line with a
typically weak fourth quarter and having fewer guests helped it
adapt quickly to staff shortages from workers falling sick.
The hotel operator also warned of challenges ahead in
Germany from renewed pandemic-related curbs there and flagged
more cost inflation in 2023, which it said it expected to be
able to offset.
"It's difficult to determine at this point what the
softening demand over Christmas will do to (Whitbread's)
full-year sales," eToro analyst Mark Crouch said in a note.
Whitbread said the pub and restaurant sector remained more
challenging with its food and beverage sales down 10% in the
third quarter.
Its shares climbed as much as 2.2% early on Wednesday but
had slipped back to trade 0.3% higher by 0945 GMT.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has bet on refraining
from lockdowns to deal with Omicron, but Germany, a new and
small market for Whitbread, has tightened https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-leaders-agree-new-restrictions-stem-omicron-variant-2022-01-07
several rules and many leaders there support a general
vaccination mandate.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta and David Clarke)