EZH.L Regulatory News (EZH)

25 April 2017

easyHotel plc

("easyHotel")

Master Development Partnership in Nepal

easyHotel plc ("easyHotel" or the "Company") (AIM:EZH), the owner, developer, operator and franchisor of "super budget" branded hotels, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Master Development Partnership with IGC Group UK (www.igc.com.np Incentive Group of Companies Nepal), to develop easyHotels in Nepal.

Recognising the strength of the easyHotel brand, IGC approached the Company and expressed its interest in a franchise agreement to develop easyHotels in Nepal and North India, a region which attracts 729,550 international and domestic visitors to Nepal alone each year*. 

The franchise agreement is for 300 rooms to be opened within the next three years, with the first hotel to be located in the capital, Kathmandu.

This partnership has been signed against a backdrop of continued local government support for growing the budget hotel industry.

The new easyHotels are expected to comprise new purpose-built hotels and conversions of existing hotels and/or office buildings. The first easyHotel will be located in the Lazimpath area of Kathmandu, the trading hub of Nepal's capital, and IGC has already secured land and property to accommodate the first 100 rooms which is due to open by the end of 2018.

Incentive Group of Companies (IGC) has established itself as a rapidly growing international and domestic travel business with operations in six business sectors; Tour & Trek, Aviation, Cargo, Information Technology, Hospitality and Travel Technology. IGC has hospitality expertise and already operates hotels in the region.

Guy Parsons, Chief Executive of easyHotel said,

"We are delighted to enter into this new partnership with IGC Nepal which is testament to easyHotel's strong brand recognition. IGC has established a significant geographical foothold in the region in a number of business areas, many of which are targeted towards value conscious consumers, which makes them a great cultural fit for easyHotel.

This relationship provides us with the opportunity to extend our network into this attractive market without direct capital investment."

A spokesperson for IGC said,

"We are excited to be partnering with the easyHotel brand. We see a significant gap in the budget sector in the entire region. Currently there are no hotel brands offering a combination of great value and superb quality and we feel that easyHotel is perfectly designed to take advantage of this opportunity."

* Source: The Himalayan Times, January 2017

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

easyHotel is the owner, developer, operator and franchisor of branded hotels. Its strategy is to target the "super budget" segment of the hotel industry by marketing "clean, comfortable and safe" hotel rooms to its customers.

Operating hotels

easyHotel's four owned hotels currently comprise 476 rooms, and it has a further 19 franchised hotels with 1,643 rooms. 

Owned hotels:

Old Street (London), Glasgow, Croydon, Birmingham

Franchise locations:

Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria (Sofia), Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt), Hungary (Budapest), The Netherlands (Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Zaandam, Rotterdam, The Hague), Switzerland (Basel, Zurich), UAE (Dubai), United Kingdom (Edinburgh, London Heathrow, Central London, Luton).

Hotel development pipeline

The Company's committed development pipeline of owned and franchised hotels currently consists of:

Owned hotels:

United Kingdom (Liverpool, Manchester, Ipswich, Sheffield), Spain (Barcelona)

Subject to planning consent: United Kingdom (Leeds)

Franchise hotels:

UAE (Dubai), Germany (Bernkastel-Kues), Portugal (Lisbon), Turkey (Istanbul), UK (Belfast, Reading)

Website: www.easyHotel.com 

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