Premier Inns and Costa are a tasty brew at Whitbread

An advertising campaign fronted by comedian Lenny Henry and a 29 room promotion helped lift first-half like-for-like sales at the hotel division by 10.1 per cent.

Whitbread, which also owns Costa Coffee and restaurant chains including Brewers Fayre, yesterday said it was now positioned to increase the rate of hotel openings, and plans to open at least 1,700 rooms in 18 hotels across the UK before March.

The news came as the group posted pre-tax profits of 151 million for the six months to 2 September, on total revenues of about 805m, a 14.5 per cent increase on a year earlier.

Premier Inn, which generates about a third of Whitbread's profits and competes head-to-head with Travelodge, also on an aggressive expansion drive, saw revenues increase 14 per cent to 355.7m during the period.

The hotel chain was boosted by corporate demand as business account revenues increased 24 per cent, while it also saw reservations via its website increase to 58 per cent of total bookings.

Group chief executive Alan Parker, delivering his last set of results before EasyJet boss Andy Harrison steps in, said that, despite an uncertain economic outlook, Whitbread was confident for the rest of the year.

"I think the consumer is concerned about value for money and they are watching their pennies carefully. In our markets we feel in a fairly buoyant position," he said.

The firm also plans to ramp up its Costa presence. More than 130 outlets are planned in the UK and overseas in the next six months, bringing the total by the end of the financial year to 1,850 stores, with some 1,200 in the UK.

The coffee chain delivered a 27.7 per cent increase in revenues to 311.2m in the first half, boosted by a new breakfast food range and loyalty card programme.

Meanwhile, the leisure group's pub restaurant revenues lifted 4.5 per cent, driven by offers such as its two meals for 10 deal at Brewers Fayre.

City reaction to the first-half numbers was generally positive.

Nick Batram, an analyst at brokerage KBC Peel Hunt, said: "I think they're a very good set of results and all the businesses are firing on all four cylinders.There's still a lot of organic growth opportunity in Costa and in Premier."

Charles Stanley analyst Sam Hart said: "(Premier Inn's] budget positioning leaves it well placed to weather any headwinds created by government austerity measures.

"Indeed, Premier Inn may actually benefit as the public and private sectors take action to reduce costs and leisure customers trade-down as disposable incomes come under pressure."

Whitbread is paying a dividend of 11.25p per share, up 16.6 per cent on last year's half-time payout.

The average forecast for the group's pre-tax profit for the 12 months to February 2011 is 270m according to a poll of 20 analysts.

Group chairman Anthony Habgood said: "This is an excellent set of results, demonstrating the success of our focused strategy and drive to meet the needs of our customers. The strong like-for-like and overall sales performances show how well we have positioned ourselves in challenging market conditions."