Premier Inn, a leading UK-based hotel chain, has announced that it will create 8000 new jobs over the next five years due its rapid expansion plans.
The announcement was made at the official opening of Premier Inn’s latest hotel, London City (Monument), by Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants MD, Patrick Dempsey, and the Minister for Employment, Esther McVey MP.
From the 8000 jobs being created – which equates to over four jobs a day – Premier Inn has targeted 50% of them to long-term unemployed people aged 16-24. The hotel chain has also pledged an additional 2000 apprenticeships and 4500 work placements for young people in the UK by 2018.
Premier Inn has already created 1100 jobs in the past year, and the new 184-bedroom Premier Inn at Monument has provided 20 new jobs, all of which have gone to the long-term unemployed.
Patrick Dempsey says: “We’re committed to doing what we can to offer opportunities to unemployed people to get their first job or to get back into work. We have a target of recruiting half of our new team members from the long-term unemployed, and we offer a robust and structured qualification pathway.
“We especially want young people to know that hospitality is a career path that is open to them and its one they could excel in. The Big Hospitality Conversation is a key pillar of activity for the British Hospitality Association, and as an industry it has already pledged over 32,000 jobs, apprenticeships and work placements – and that number could double by 2014.”
