Whitbread / Premier Inn

Novus has supported Whitbread for over 15 years, delivering large-scale refurbishment programmes across the Premier Inn estate.

Scope:

• Full bedroom, bathroom, reception and communal area refurbishments.
• Between 2021- 24, Novus refurbished 54 hotels and 4,000 rooms across the UK; the latest 2025/26 programme covered 26 hotels, 1,888 rooms.
• Works are delivered in live hotel environments using careful phasing, lean programming and dedicated logistics to minimise disruption, protect the guest experience and support rapid room turnaround.

Key Successes

• Long-term programme partnership – We have supported Whitbread since 2009
• Our teams regularly manage up to 10 live hotel sites at once, using six-monthly planning cycles and scalable resources to maintain programme certainty.
• A revised two-floor phasing approach has reduced refurbishment times to four weeks on average, supporting faster room return and minimising revenue impact for Whitbread.
• 100% customer satisfaction for our latest programme, based on surveys returned to us by client staff, demonstrating continued quality and timeliness of our works coupled with a continued focus on health, safety and minimising adverse impacts onto the guest experience.

Key Challenges

• Sites remain fully operational, requiring careful phasing, agreed working hours, noise control and clear separation between works areas and guests.
• Many hotels are in busy locations such as London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, requiring off-site compounds, planned delivery routes and controlled drop-off arrangements.
• Standardised Premier Inn components must be protected and quality checked on arrival, supported by dedicated stores resource and robust receipting processes.