Acquisition

Whitbread PLC
26 September 2007




            WHITBREAD ACQUIRES 2000 ROOMS FOR PREMIER INN


Whitbread PLC has today announced the purchase of six hotels (770 rooms)
currently trading in the UK under the Tulip Inn and Golden Tulip brands and a
secured pipeline of nine further sites (1300 rooms) for £44m.  The pipeline
hotels are planned to open in the next two years.


The six hotels currently trading had an EBITDA of £2.3m in the last financial
year and average occupancy of 70%.


The 15 leasehold hotels will be converted to the Premier Inn brand at a cost of
£9m.  The current franchise arrangements with Golden Tulip Worldwide have been
terminated and the six open hotels will be rebranded by the year end.  Taking
account of the costs of integration it is anticipated that the transaction will
be marginally dilutive in the current financial year.


The hotels have been purchased through the acquisition of Golden Tulip (UK)
Limited and Pilot Hotels Limited from funds managed by Graphite Capital and
management shareholders.  The consideration, which included the discharge of
existing debt, was paid in cash on completion.


Alan Parker CEO of Whitbread said: 'I am pleased that we are able to buy these
modern and well-located hotels for Premier Inn, the UK's largest and fastest
growing hotel business.  Once rebranded and integrated into our Premier Inn
portfolio, our focus will be on occupancy and securing further sites in the
pipeline over and above these 15 hotels.  We will now have our first Premier Inn
in the Republic of Ireland and will be looking for other opportunities in that
country.  There is clearly significant growth potential through conversions such
as this and, coupled with our aggressive organic pipeline, we are well on track
to reach our target of 45,000 rooms in the UK by 2010.'



Media Contacts:

Wendy Watherston,
Tulchan Communications:                                020 7353 4200

Dionne Parker,
Interim Communications Director, Whitbread PLC:        07748 321557

Analysts:

Christopher Rogers,
Group Finance Director, Whitbread PLC:                 01582 889418



Editor's note

The six hotels are located at:


Glasgow
Newcastle Gateshead
Portsmouth
Leeds Castleford
Dublin Airport
Manchester (Golden Tulip)



Secured pipeline:


Bournemouth
Manchester Airport
Stoke/Trentham
Belfast
Sheffield
Doncaster
Gatwick
York
Hull



About Whitbread Plc ... Whitbread PLC is the UK's leading hospitality company,
managing market leading businesses in the budget hotels, restaurant and coffee
shop sectors, including Premier Inn, Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Costa.
Whitbread's strategy is to create value for our shareholders by focusing
investment and growing in expanding sectors of the hospitality industry,
primarily in the UK but also in selected overseas markets.   In the financial
year to March 1, 2007, Whitbread generated pre-tax, pre-exceptional profit of
£213.0m.    Founded in 1742, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange
(as WTB.L) and is a member of the FTSE100 FTSE4Good indices.  http://
www.whitbread.co.uk/.



About Premier Inn ... Premier Inn is the UK's biggest hotel brand with over 480
hotels and more than 32,600 rooms.  UK Premier Inn bedrooms are 22m(2) and
feature a king size bed with quality duvet and pillow options; en-suite bathroom
with shower and bath; remote control TV/radio alarm; tea/coffee making
facilities; and a spacious desk area with internet access. Premier Inn offers
customers a 'Good Night Guarantee' of a good quality room, comfortable
surroundings and friendly service, which is unique amongst Britain's leading
hotel chains.



Premier Travel Inn was the first Britain-wide hotel group to sign up with
national tourist boards, VisitBritain, VisitScotland and VisitWales: this means
Premier Inn is now part of a new quality assessment scheme, specially created
for budget accommodation.



A joint venture with Emirates was announced last year to develop the Premier Inn
brand in the Gulf region, with its first site in Dubai due to open in Spring
2008.  Premier Inn also has a joint venture with Emaar-MGF to roll out 80 hotels
in India by 2017.

www.premierinn.com




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange