The owner of Premier Inn will use robot vacuums to clean hotel rooms to save staff costs after taking a £70million hit from the Budget.
Whitbread, also the owner of the Beefeater restaurant chain, said the automation of some cleaning tasks was part of a £50million cost-saving programme.
This will help to offset higher employment costs imposed by Rachel Reeves, which analysts reckon will cost the hotel owner £70million.
The business was already trialling the gadgets before the Budget and believes they will help cleaners focus on other tasks.
Chief executive Dominic Paul hailed ‘good progress’ made to trim costs as well as a £500million plan to convert restaurants into hotel rooms, targeting 97,000 rooms in total.
Whitbread said it expected cost inflation to be between 2 per cent and 3 per cent across the group, after taking into account its efforts to save cash.
Robo-cleaners: Premier Inn owner Whitbread said the automation of some cleaning tasks was part of a £50m cost-saving programme
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