Budget chain Easyhotel has reported its biggest loss since 2020 as a rise in bookings failed to offset more than £16m in loan charges.
The London-headquartered business saw its pre-tax loss hit £9.2m in the 12 months ending December 31, 2023, up from £2.3m the year before.
This was despite its revenue rising to more than £67m from just over £45m the period prior, with its owned hotels contributing £65m of that total.
Easyhotel’s franchised venues performed less successfully, achieving revenue of just £1.5m compared to £2.4m the year before.
The chain said that several factors had dented its bottom line, including a one-off legal expense and finance charges of just under £17m, driven by a new loan facility opened October 2022.
The loss is the biggest the chain has seen since 2020 when Covid-19 shut down travel, leaving a £38m dent in the company’s bottomline.
Easyhotel’s growth strategy
In its most recent business review published on Companies House, Easyhotel outlined plans to open new sites in Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante over the next two years.
These plans build on the company’s growth in the previous financial year, which saw it launch two new hotels in Dublin and one in Paris, adding 340 extra rooms to its portfolio.
At the end of May the chain announced it had secured a £42.5m loan from Santander UK to support this expansion, alongside an additional £6m loan from BRED Banque for one of its French hotels.
The company’s new £42.5m loan from Santander UK will replace a previous agreement and includes a £7.5m increase.
It marks the fourth collaboration between Easyhotel and the bank. The funds will finance low-carbon investments in the UK such as the installation of heat pumps and smart metering systems as well as a full refurbishment of its Glasgow hotel.
Similar low-carbon works will be taking place across nine hotels in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
The chain also obtained funding from BRED Banque Populaire to expand in France, including financing for a new 110-bedroom hotel in Marseille.
EasyHotel is a part of the group of brands founded by Stelios Haji-Ioannou. It was founded in 2004 and floated in June 2014 before quitting AIM in 2020.