Whitbread, owners of the UK's largest hotel chain, reported a 13.7% rise is sales for its Premier Travel Inn brand for the first quarter of 2006-2007
The group reported that like for like sales for the same 13 weeks for the budget hotels rose by 6.7%.
Alan Parker, ceo of Whitbread, said that the chain was continuing to perform well and was growing through a "mix of outstanding like for like sales performance and aggressive new room openings."
These, Mr Parker said, were moving towards the 2010 target of 45,000 rooms after the first quarter saw 1,133 new rooms including the conversion of seven Holiday Inns and one Days Inn.
Open Skies hopes fade
Hopes of an Open Skies agreement between the US and the EU were dealt two blows this week.
The US House of Representatives voted to delay a US Department of Transportation (DOT) ruling on foreign ownership while Jean-Cyril
Spinetta, chairman of Air France-KLM said that European governments were unlikely to accept the current American proposals.
The DOT plan was to allow foreigners greater powers on the running of US airlines. But it did not seek to change the current 25% ceiling on foreign ownership of American carriers which the EU wants relaxed.
Mr Spinetta, speaking in New York, said he did not think the DOT proposal would be "acceptable to the EU side in its present form."
He said that failure to reach an agreement on Open Skies after thee attempts would be a "disaster" and predicted it could lead to the EC to press for the scrapping of deals between member states and the US.