Image: IKEA currently operates 340 stores in 38 countries

The parent company of furniture giant IKEA has announced plans to launch a 'budget design' hotel chain for the European market.

Inter IKEA, which owns the intellectual property rights to IKEA, is considering more than 100 locations and it is understood that negotiations are at an advanced stages for sites in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Poland.

The hotels will likely be operated by an established hotel management firm outside the IKEA group of companies, with the properties being owned by Inter IKEA.

Speaking to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Inter IKEA business development manager Harald Müller said that the hotels would have "no reference" to IKEA in their branding.

"We should be in a position to announce the location of the first hotel in Germany in a few weeks," he added.

To read Müller's interview in Allgemeine Zeitung (in German), click here.