Whitbread owns Premier Inn, which runs hotels in the UK, Ireland and Germany.
What you get
You and your guests get a free breakfast each morning of your stay, subject to availability.
What it takes
You need at least 64 shares.
Before buyingA perk is a minor benefit of owning a share, not a reason to buy one. Share prices fall as well as rise, and dealing costs, spreads and tax can exceed a perk’s value. Read about the risks.
Holding through a broker
Shares held in your own name or through a nominee qualify.
Whitbread does not say whether ISA or SIPP holdings qualify, or whether overseas shareholders can claim.
Choose a broker to see its guidance. The company’s eligibility rules still apply.
Hargreaves Lansdown Documented route
Ask HL by secure message to arrange the card. HL labels its directory April 2025. Check current issuer terms; this route has not been tested.
Broker source , checked
interactive investor Documented route
ii requests the card from Whitbread. ii labels this entry January 2024. Check current issuer terms; this route has not been tested.
Broker source , checked
Other conditions
- Where the benefit applies
- Participating hotels in the UK or Ireland
- Included brands
- Premier Inn; hub by Premier Inn; ZIP by Premier Inn
- Physical card required
- Yes
How to claim
At check-in, show your original shareholder card and booking confirmation email. Copies and photographs are not accepted. You may be asked for further proof of ID.
- 1. If the shares are registered in your nameAsk MUFG Corporate Markets for a card using the contact details below. If you are already registered for shareholder offers, the card should come with the annual report mailing.
- 2. If you hold through a nomineeAsk your nominee to get the card for you. Whitbread sends nominee holders to their provider and does not promise that every broker offers this service.
- 3. Book your stayAny booking rate qualifies. You do not need to add breakfast when booking; the hotel confirms the benefit at check-in.
Registered holders - Register for a benefits card: MUFG Corporate Markets: +44 (0)344 855 2327; Whitbread@cm.mpms.mufg.com
Exclusions and limits
Excluded: Meal Deal; Emerald card; Whitbread Privilege card; Transfer to another person; Cash alternatives.
Usage limits: Up to two adults per room, for up to two rooms; the shareholder must stay in one of them.
The offer cannot be combined with other discounts.
Dates
The published terms do not say when you must own the shares or how long you must hold them.
- Use the benefit by
Practical notes
UK and Ireland
The detailed terms include Ireland, but the introduction on Whitbread’s benefits page mentions only the UK. This page follows the detailed terms. Check that your hotel takes part before relying on the benefit.
Restaurant benefits
The introduction on Whitbread’s benefits page mentions restaurant benefits, but the page gives no restaurant terms. Do not assume the card gives a restaurant discount.
Get the card before travelling
An account statement does not replace the card. Whitbread gives no delivery time and publishes no alternative route if your nominee cannot arrange a card.
History of the perk
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Breakfast wording and end date change
By June 2022, Whitbread had removed children from the breakfast wording, leaving up to two adults per room. The annual end date moved from 31 May to 30 June; the June terms covered stays through 30 June 2023.
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Booking rates and restaurant rules change
By August 2020, the terms allowed breakfast with any booking rate and required the card itself and booking confirmation at check-in, refusing copies and photographs. They excluded breakfast where Whitbread did not own the restaurant. The restaurant discount narrowed to food and soft drinks in the UK, once a day.
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Breakfast replaces the Sunday night
By July 2019, free breakfast had replaced the free Sunday night. The offer covered two adults and two children aged 15 and under per room, for up to two rooms, but excluded Semi-Flex and Non-Flex rates.
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A card replaces the vouchers
By June 2016, Whitbread offered a benefits card to holders of 64 or more shares. It gave a free Sunday night after a Saturday stay at a UK Premier Inn for up to two rooms, subject to availability, 10% off food and drink for up to four people at Whitbread restaurants, excluding Christmas Day, and a one-off £5 Costa gift loaded onto the card.
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An 85-share minimum
Holders of 85 or more ordinary shares could receive discounts and offers from Whitbread’s businesses, usually sent with the annual report in May.
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Coupons and discounted leisure vouchers
Whitbread sent a coupon booklet with the May annual report at the board’s discretion. Shareholders could also buy Whitbread Leisure Vouchers at 12% off throughout the year. Neither benefit required a minimum holding.
Company story
A London brewery
Samuel Whitbread began a brewing partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell in 1742. He moved brewing to Chiswell Street in London in 1750 and installed a steam engine designed by James Watt there in 1784.
From vouchers to a card
Whitbread’s Leisure Vouchers could be spent at over 3,000 UK outlets in 1998. Whitbread still offered vouchers in 2015, but by 2016 it had introduced a benefits card. The card’s free Sunday night after a Saturday stay had become breakfast by July 2019.
The £5 Costa gift
Whitbread’s 2016 benefits card came with a one-off £5 Costa gift pre-loaded; by October 2018, the gift came on a separate Costa card. Chief executive Alison Brittain recalled in 2018 that Whitbread had bought Costa for £19 million in 1995, when it had 39 shops. Whitbread sold Costa to Coca-Cola for £3.9 billion in January 2019. Its July 2019 benefits page listed no new Costa gift but said the 2018 gift card remained valid.
What travellers made of it
The Irish Times told readers in April 2021 that the card would let them “impress your fellow travellers” at Premier Inn. A Which? reader who travelled for work asked in January 2026 how to buy Whitbread shares for the breakfast. Which? calculated that a qualifying holding cost £1,778 at that month’s prices, calling it “no small investment”. It warned that the share price had been volatile over the previous five years and that a holder could be caught out if they had to sell during a fall.
Sources: Whitbread, Our history ; Whitbread, Costa sale announcement, 2018 ; The Irish Times, 2021 ; Which?, January 2026