Whitbread has announced that it will exit its Premier Inn business, which currently accounts for 785 rooms, in India and South East Asia. The company is planning a phased withdrawal from its three existing hotels in India, two in Indonesia and a hotel site in Thailand. The company will instead focus on expanding its Premier Inn portfolio in Germany and the Middle East. This move will be the first major change of strategy under Whitbread’s new CEO, Alison Brittain. Whitbread, which also owns the Costa Coffee chain, aims to reach 85,000 Premier Inn rooms in the United Kingdom by 2020, from its current 64,920 rooms.