Whitbread
Senior Location Strategy & Planning Analyst
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Senior Location Strategy & Planning Analyst
Senior Location Strategy Analyst
- Job Title: Senior Location Strategy Analyst
- Contract Type: Permanent
- Location: Head office, Dunstable LU5 Hybrid working (3 days a week in the office)
About the Role
This role leads the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the UK Location Strategy and Network Plan for Premier Inn and hub, transforming complex market, demand, and competitive insight into clear, investment-ready decisions that shape Whitbread’s long-term growth.
Acting as a vital bridge between strategy, analytics, and delivery, this position ensures the business invests in the right locations, formats, and priorities to maximise sustainable returns. A core focus is the modernisation of Whitbread’s location strategy modelling capabilities, bringing automation, scalable tools, and AI+-enabled analytics into decision-making.
Commercial judgement is applied throughout, grounding recommendations in:
- Real-world trading dynamics
- Investment considerations
- Long-term value creation
As the network evolves, this role will expand, shaping how Whitbread identifies, evaluates, and delivers future opportunities.
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Key Responsibilities
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Lead Location Strategy Own and evolve the UK Location Strategy and Network Plan, defining:
- Where to grow
- What to build
- Scale considerations Balancing returns, risk, and brand priorities
-
Shape Market Insight Act as the subject matter expert on UK hotel market dynamics
- Produce quarterly outlooks
- Govern competitor and market datasets Ensure a single, reliable source of truth
-
Drive Strategic Modelling Own and enhance core growth potential and network models
- Translate outputs into clear strategic choices
- Continuously improve:
- Assumptions
- Inputs
- Governance
-
Modernise Analytics Lead adoption of automated, scalable, and AI-enabled modelling
- Apply machine-learning techniques to strengthen:
- Forecasting
- Scenario testing
- Cannibalisation logic Keep outputs explainable
- Apply machine-learning techniques to strengthen:
-
Influence Senior Stakeholders Partner with Property, Finance, and Strategy teams
- Guide investment decisions Apply commercial judgement across all areas to maximise long-term value creation
Benefits
- Bonus potential – up to 20%
- Pension contributions matched – up to 10%
- Savings with Premier Inn and Hub – up to 60% off stays
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Requirements
Required skills and experience:
-
Ability to take full end-to-end ownership of the Strategic Growth Plan, aligning inputs and translating insights into actionable recommendations. Collaborate across:
- Acquisition
- Delivery
- Insight
- Strategy teams
-
Experience in owning and maintaining strategic datasets, ensuring:
- Data quality
- Governance
- Accuracy across multiple sources to support critical decisions
-
Strong quantitative modelling and analytical skills in:
- Excel
- Python
Specific focus!:
- Forecasting
- Scenario analysis
- Investment modelling
-
Ability to build robust location-level insight, integrating:
- Demand
- Supply
- Competitor dynamics
- Market behaviours To identify:
- Opportunities
- Risks
- Priorities
-
Proven commercial judgement and communication skills to:
- Translate complex analysis into clear, evidence-based recommendations
- Influence investment and strategic decisions
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