The site on Caversham Road – near the city centre and the railway station ‒ is an existing hotel, which is to be converted into an easyHotel in 2017.
The announcement comes after just weeks after the brand opened its first property in Belgium, with a 107-bedroom easyHotel in Brussels on 24 October.
Overall, the agreements bring the group’s total development projects to 1,658 bedrooms, of which 1,082 are being developed by franchise partners and 576 are owned.
Guy Parsons, chief executive officer, said: “We are delighted to announce the extension of our franchise network in the UK as we continue to implement our expansion strategy. This will enable us to further increase our presence in the south-east and raise brand awareness without direct capital investment.”
Nadeem Boghani, vice chairman of the Splendid Hospitality Group, which has a portfolio of 20 branded and independent hotels across the UK, commented: “We are delighted to be working as a franchise partner with easyHotel to create the new easyHotel Reading. Reading is an area we know well from an operational point of view and it is ideally suited to the easyHotel portfolio.”
easyHotel currently operates 12 hotels across the UK, including seven in and around London, and one apiece at London Luton Airport and the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Manchester.
Of these, London Old Street, Glasgow and Croydon are owned, with the rest franchise locations.
Worldwide, there are also easyHotels in the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Turkey and the UAE.
The Splendid Group operates over 2,000 bedrooms in the UK, including the 292-bedroom Hilton London Bankside and the luxury, 256-bedroom Conrad St James.