Hotel Owner Hotel Owner May 2017 digital | Page 26

COMPANY Q&A | JURYS INN
in the hotels that are more leisure
orientated. We expect that to continue.
Do you have any further hotels in the
pipeline?
Nothing that I could say to you right now
that we are ready to announce, but yes
there are a number of discussions taking
place about potential sites in cities where
we are not really represented today.
What criteria do you consider when
looking at new locations?
To be in the heart of the city is important
to us, so secondary locations just off
motorway networks and so on isn’t really
where we want to be. We want to be in
the city centre and close to travel links.
We want locations that are buoyant in
BRADFORD GYM
terms of hotel activity, and we would be we will see in 2017 and beyond is those as an M&E orientated hotel group as well
looking at the revenue per available room hotels reaching a mature level of trading. as an accommodation provider. Moving
(RevPAR) of a city, supply and demand When we brought the hotels over we really forward I would expect us to be recognised
and also the future implications of that. increased our meeting and event capacity as an employer of choice, that we can keep
Also from an employment point of view as a group, and our space actually grew receiving numerous industry awards, that
we want a city where we can find the right by 60% as a consequence of transitioning we are able to demonstrate a high level of
level of employees to work in the property these hotels over - we are now a significant internal progress and most importantly that
and somewhere that also adds value to player in the M&E market. I fully expect that we are proving a return on investment for
the brand. in five years time we will be recognised our shareholders.
Jurys Inn has a property in the Czech
Republic, is that a hint that the
company would expand overseas?
I think it probably is a bit more of a one-off
by nature. It was a particular opportunity
at the time, and it was presented to us
to operate the hotels for investors. We
did and it’s a very successful hotel that
works for us, but I think there are more
opportunities closer to home that we would
want to pursue ahead of any European
expansion.
What’s the aim for Jurys Inn and where
do you see the company in, say, five
years time?
We started a proces