It’s speedy boarding for Premier Inn at Edinburgh Airport
Travellers to Edinburgh will have the opportunity to check-into a new budget hotel from 2028 following the decision by Edinburgh City Council to mind to grant planning permission for a new Premier Inn at Edinburgh Airport.
Whitbread plc, which owns the Premier Inn brand, worked with development company Riverstone Hotels Ltd, to secure permission for the 218-bedroom hotel on Eastfield Road, on the main entranceway to the airport.
The permission, which follows months of positive engagement with Edinburgh City Council, paves the way for Premier Inn to grow its presence in the catchment serving Scotland’s busiest airport and a gateway to more than 155 domestic and international destinations.
Currently, Premier Inn serves the 16 million passengers who use Edinburgh Airport each year from two nearby hotels – with the new location offering Premier Inn customers the ability to walk from the main terminal building to the new hotel in less than ten minutes.
Jill Anderson, Acquisition Manager for Whitbread,
“Edinburgh Airport is in growth mode. Passenger numbers are increasing steadily, and the list of direct destinations is growing longer every year.
“As the airport continues to succeed and grow, so are we by investing in additional bedrooms for our customers to enjoy – in this instance so close to the terminal that they will be able to walk from the airport to the new hotel in less than ten minutes.
“Securing the ‘mind to grant’ notice for the 218-room hotel, is a vital step in delivering the new location for our customers.
“We will work closely with Riverstone to agree the final details and ensure progress is made quickly, so we can add more than 200 new, affordable hotel rooms at the key gateway into Scotland as soon as possible.”
Whitbread and Riverstone announced their intention to develop the 218-room hotel in November 2024, with Riverstone submitting a planning application for the L-shaped, ground plus four storey building in the spring.
The hotel will feature a mixture of Premier Inn’s latest style bedrooms including its popular Premier Plus rooms, as well as the brand’s welcoming ‘The Social’ space on the ground floor.
It will be designed to be powered solely by electricity generated by renewable sources and the plans include 100 car parking spaces for hotel guests.
This new Edinburgh Airport Premier Inn is one of three new hotels Whitbread is investing in within the city – totalling more than 500 new affordable rooms.
The brand currently welcomes more than 1 million customers to its 14 trading Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels within the Edinburgh City Council area and estimates its guests contribute more than £32 million in external expenditure to the city every year.
Across the UK and Ireland Premier Inn customers can choose from more than 85,000 Premier Inn rooms in 850+ locations and Whitbread believes there is the potential for 125,000 rooms in its two key markets in time.
Notes
The two trading Premier Inn’s currently serving Edinburgh Airport are Edinburgh Park (Airport) and Edinburgh Airport (M9, Jct1).
The image of Edinburgh Airport terminal signage and terminal building is credited to Shutterstock
