Malmaison founder Ken McCulloch is launching a UK hotel chain called Dakota and opening two Columbus hotels in France and Portugal.
The news marks a return to the headlines for McCulloch, who has kept a low profile since he opened his only other Columbus hotel in Monaco in April 2001.
He said: "To anyone who's been thinking: 'When is it all going to happen, Ken?', I would say that it hasn't been that easy. It's all taken longer than I thought but, in a way, I'm happy with that because it's given me time to develop Monaco."
He said he was negotiating deals for at least eight "super budget" Dakota hotels, which originally had the working title of Inn Coach.
Building work has begun on the first, which opens at the Sherwood Park business park at Nottingham, in spring 2004. Other locations include Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds and the South-east.
McCulloch said each hotel would be built at a cost of between £9m and £10m. They will be located in city centres and at business parks, shopping centres, airports and alongside motorways.
Dakotas will not have room service or banqueting facilities, but they will have 24-hour coin-operated larders stocked with food, drink and toiletries. Rooms will cost £79 a night.
McCulloch said: "Dakota is probably going to be the best thing we've ever done and we're really excited about it." He hopes to launch it abroad in the future.
McCulloch said he would open his second Columbus in Paris in spring 2005. Renovation of a property in the city's eighth district is due to start in January 2004. It will have 77 bedrooms but there will be potential for expansion into an adjoining property, creating a further 44 bedrooms.
The third Columbus, in Lisbon, Portugal, will be bigger, with 128 bedrooms. It will open in summer 2005.
McCulloch said: "We continue to look at other European cities for Columbus because we certainly won't be happy until we have five or six Columbus hotels in Europe."
When McCulloch opened his first Columbus in Monaco two years ago, he said he planned to follow it with others in the USA.
McCulloch said his plans to expand Columbus into the USA didn't happen because of the impact on business of the 11 September terrorist attacks.
By Louise Bozec
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 17 - 23 July 2003