Cendant Hotel Group – owner of the Ramada, Travelodge and Days brands – has announced the European launch of its four-star hotel brand, Wingate.

The company will open 12 Wingate properties in Ireland over the next five years.

The news follows the signing of a ten-year development deal with the Prem Group, a Dublin-based hotel management company.

Belinda Atkins, director at Cendant, said: “The launch of the Wingate brand reflects our long-term international development strategy for Europe. Our existing partnership with the Perm Group presented us with and ideal opportunity.”

The deal will also see the Prem Group open a further 18 Days properties in Ireland over the next five years.

All in all, five new Wingate and four Days hotels are expected to open in Ireland this year, with five of the Prem Group’s existing Irish hotels converting in February.

The first property to be converted to a Wingate will be the Wingate Hibernian, a 40-room property in Dublin, followed by the Wingate Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort, in Blessington Lakes. The latter, a 200-acre resort, features a full 18-hole golf course, a leisure centre with a 13m swimming pool and a spa.

Atkins said: “While new construction will continue to be the preferred mode for Wingate expansion in the US, in Ireland we will be targeting existing, high-quality properties which complement the US prototype.

“Following the launch of Wingate in Ireland, we are actively reviewing the opportunities for further development of the brand in the UK,” she said.

US-based Cendant Corporation already has 130 Wingate Inn hotels in North America. The agreement with Prem Group marks the luxury brand’s debut outside the US.

Cendant has over 6,000 hotels on five continents. Days Inn is one of the world’s largest hotel chains with 1,900 properties in 14 countries. www.wingate.com or www.wingate.ie