Choice Hotels Europe (CHE Hotel Group) is set to embark upon an expansion and the refurbishment of all its properties following an £18.6m fundraising earlier this year.

£8.6m will be used for the development of the group’s Sleep Inn concept, while the remaining £10m will be used to transform its existing hotels.

“The raising of funds allows us, for the first time, after many years of restraint, to implement our growth and development strategy,” said Peter Catesby, chair.

“We will refurbish and remodel our properties and accelerate the development of our Sleep Inn premium limited service hotels, together with our mid-market sector expansion plans.”

Reporting its results for the year ending 31 December 2005, the company showed a pre-tax profit of £0.6m, up from a loss of £0.2m in 2004. Revenue was £79.2m – down from £79.6m – and operating profit was £4.6m – unchanged from 2004.

CHE Group operates 58 owned, leased or managed hotels in the UK, France, Germany and Belgium under the Comfort Inn, Quality Hotel, Clarion Hotel and Sleep Inn brands.

The company also hold the Master Franchise for Choice Hotel’s brands in Europe – excluding Scandinavia – totalling 278 franchises in 11 countries. Details: www.choicehotelseurope.com