VS Series
Premier Inn v Travelodge
Budget beds: who fills the rooms, and who makes them pay?
Premier Inn leads on 5 of the five measures that matter most: turnover, pre-tax profit, profit margin, growth and net assets. Premier Inn is the biggest by turnover at £1,380m, against £1,008m at Travelodge. Premier Inn keeps more of every £100 it takes, £26.82 as pre-tax profit.
The year ends are up to 14 months apart, so this compares each company's most recent filing rather than the same twelve months.
Accounts compared: Premier Inn to Feb 2026 · Travelodge to Dec 2024
Who they are
Premier Inn
Premier Inn Hotels Limited · 05137608Premier Inn is a budget hotel chain with hotels across the UK and Ireland, in city centres, near airports and beside main roads, plus hotels in Germany.In brief: budget hotel chain · direct room bookings · UK, Ireland and Germany · owned by WhitbreadFull profile →Travelodge
Travelodge Hotels Limited · 00769170Travelodge is a budget hotel chain offering simple, low-cost rooms in towns, cities, airports and roadside locations across the UK, with further hotels in Ireland and Spain.In brief: budget hotels · UK, Ireland and Spain · room revenue · leased hotelsFull profile →The Numbers
| # | Company | Turnover | Change | Pre-tax profit | Margin | Employees | Pay per head | Turnover per head | Net assets | Bank and cash | Accounts to | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Premier InnPremier Inn Hotels Limited | £1,380m | +1.6% | £370m | 26.8% | n/d | n/d | n/d | £1,296m | £5m | Feb 2026 | Single company |
| 2 | TravelodgeTravelodge Hotels Limited | £1,008m | -0.8% | £97m | 9.6% | 8,864 | £29,000 | £114,000 | £372m | £222m | Dec 2024 | n/d |
Ranked by turnover. Click any column to sort. The leader on each measure is highlighted. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).
Category winners
Biggest by turnover
Premier Inn
£1,380m
Most pre-tax profit
Premier Inn
£370m
Highest profit margin
Premier Inn
26.8%
Fastest-growing turnover
Premier Inn
+1.6%
Biggest employer
Travelodge
8,864 staff
Highest pay per head
Travelodge
£29,000
Most turnover per head
Travelodge
£114,000
Largest net assets
Premier Inn
£1,296m
Most cash
Travelodge
£222m
The Takeaway
- Premier Inn converts the most of its turnover. Of every £100, £26.82 reaches pre-tax profit, against £9.61 at Travelodge.
- Premier Inn is the largest on the top line, £1,380m of turnover, 1.4x Travelodge's £1,008m.
- Premier Inn is growing fastest, turnover +1.6% on its own prior year. Travelodge went backwards.
- Travelodge is the biggest employer with 8,864 people; Travelodge pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £29,000.
- Premier Inn has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £1,296m, while Travelodge holds the most cash at £222m.
Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?
Premier Inn keeps the most: £26.82 of every £100 of turnover becomes pre-tax profit. Travelodge keeps the least, £9.61.
Financing bites hardest at Travelodge: £21.93 of every £100 goes on interest.
Every profit figure here is the one the company filed.
The chart splits each company's turnover into £100: what goes on people, on interest and on everything else, and what is left as profit.
Out of every £100 of turnover
Each column is £100 of that company's own turnover, so companies of any size compare on one scale; the figures are pounds out of each £100, not millions. Companies run from the best margin to the worst. Payroll is staff costs, financing is interest paid, other running costs are everything else, and profit is pre-tax profit, filed or estimated as marked in the table. A loss is not an extra cost: it is the part of the costs that runs past the £100 line, marked with a red bracket. Hover over any segment for its figure.
Who is the biggest, and does the comparison hold?
By turnover the order is Premier Inn (£1,380m), Travelodge (£1,008m).
By headcount, Travelodge leads with 8,864 employees.
The comparison holds with the dates stated plainly: Premier Inn to Feb 2026, Travelodge to Dec 2024. All are on the same filing basis.
Turnover on the latest filing
Who is growing fastest?
Premier Inn grew fastest, turnover +1.6% on its own prior year, ahead of Travelodge (-0.8%).
Turnover change on each company's own prior year
Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?
Travelodge employs the most, 8,864 people.
Travelodge has the highest average staff cost, about £29,000 a head.
Travelodge brings in the most turnover per employee, about £114,000. It says as much about the business model as the workforce: a marketplace or a wholesaler needs far fewer people per pound than a restaurant or a gym.
Who owns each one?
Ownership as recorded on the Companies House register of people with significant control, in the bands the register uses.
Held by Whitbread Group Plc
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 3 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Premier Inn →
Travelodge Hotels Limited · 00769170Held by Full Moon Holdco 7 Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 1 outstanding charge on the register.
Who owns Travelodge →
What does the full ledger show?
| Measure | Premier Inn | Travelodge |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name | PREMIER INN HOTELS LIMITED | TRAVELODGE HOTELS LIMITED |
| Company number | 05137608 | 00769170 |
| Incorporated | 2004 | 1963 |
| Accounts filed | 26 August 2026 | 14 April 2025 |
| Turnover, prior year | £1,359m | £1,017m |
| Pre-tax profit, prior year | £382m | £147m |
| Staff costs | n/d | £261m |
| Payroll share of turnover | n/d | 25.9% |
| Employees, prior year | n/d | 8,023 |
| Dividends paid | £400m | n/d |
| Charges outstanding | 3 | 1 |
A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d; a zero in a filing is treated as not disclosed. Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, above that to the nearest million.
Premier Inn v Travelodge: common questions
Who is the biggest of Premier Inn or Travelodge?
Premier Inn, with turnover of £1,380m in the year to February 2026.
Which makes the most profit?
Premier Inn: £370m pre-tax in the year to February 2026.
Which employs the most people?
Travelodge, with 8,864 employees in its latest accounts.
Premier Inn or Travelodge: which is bigger?
Premier Inn, with turnover of £1,380m against £1,008m at Travelodge on their latest filings. On margin, Premier Inn keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →
Where do these figures come from?
Each company's latest accounts filed at Companies House. Each links to its full Spark Intel profile, which names the filing it comes from.