Our story

Where did it all begin? Well, way back in 1996, Somerston Hotels formed and we opened our first hotel – Holiday Inn Express Warwick – a year later.

Over the next four years, Somerston grew rapidly, adding another 14 (yes, fourteen!) hotels to the group. Things were getting serious…

2005 was a huge year! We more than doubled in size, going from 15 hotels to 31. At this point, we became Europe’s largest franchisee of Holiday Inn Express hotels (bragging rights included).

By the end of 2006, we had another three hotels under our belt, in Leeds, Dartford and Poole. Still following? Great, so that takes us up to 34 hotels.

In 2008, Holiday Inn Express Lincoln opened its doors for the first time and we welcome our first guests to the newly built Hampton by Hilton Liverpool. A few hotels were sold, so we still have 34 hotels by 2010. But not for long…

In 2014, Lone Star bought and merged Somerston Hotels, More Than Hotels plus Holiday Inn Express Hamilton and we became Atlas Hotels. We started managing Hilton Portsmouth which we later transformed into a flagship Holiday Inn Express hotel.

In 2016, L+R (A big hotel and property investment company) took over Atlas. L+R have hotels and luxury 5-star resorts all over the world. 2016 was also the year Holiday Inn Express Portsmouth – North was opened.

There were huge public area transformations in three of our hotels and the extension of Holiday Inn Express Bath was completed. A big year! In 2017 we announced that we were converting an old office block in Exeter city centre into a shiny new Holiday Inn Express. The 48th hotel in the Atlas family.

A whirlwind year for us! Where did the time go? Work officially commenced on Holiday Inn Express Bicester, our first new-build hotel since Liverpool. Holiday Inn Express Exeter – City Centre opened in May, our second hotel in sunny Devon. And, more extension projects kicked off in Edinburgh, Hammersmith and Cambridge.

Fast forward to 2020, Holiday Inn Edinburgh West joined Atlas and was transformed into our second Holiday Inn Express in Scotland’s capital. Holiday Inn Express Bicester opened its doors and our extension projects were complete.

2021, Did that even happen? What a blur! Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - City West opened its doors after a major refurbishment and rebrand.

We gained two more hotels in Birmingham. Holiday Inn Express Birmingham - Snow Hill and Hampton by Hilton Jewellery Quarter.

In 2022, we welcomed the Chardon portfolio to Atlas Hotels which introduced 6 new hotels in Scotland including the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express Glasgow - City Centre Theatreland.

In 2023 we decided to move all Housekeeping teams internally which created more jobs and offered better benefits to the housekeepers.

In 2024, we officially opened Holiday Inn Express Dresden Zentrum which took us up to 59 hotels. We were named in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2024 and got certified with FuturePlus for our sustainability efforts. Towards the end of 2024, we acquired Holiday Inn Express Folkestone taking us to 60 hotels, a 100-bedroom hotel near the Eurotunnel.