Team size: nine 

Key team members:  Matt Yates, Irene Bita, Arash Kang, Amy Roberts 

What significant projects or deals has the legal team worked on in the past year?  Can you provide examples of successful outcomes or major accomplishments?  

The roll out this year of Whitbread’s new property management and guest reservation system, ‘Opera’, represents a significant enhancement in our digital transformation journey. The new system streamlines operations, enhancing guest experience and operational efficiency. It marks a major achievement for Whitbread in delivering a modern, guest focussed platform, empowering us to take our business to a new level of service quality and growth, in the way that we manage our properties and deliver outstanding service to our guests. The roll out was the largest to date for the software provider Oracle. The legal team has been integral throughout the transition, providing essential support in key areas including: intellectual property rights, software licensing, data protection and managing the commercial negotiations.  

This year, Whitbread also announced that as part of its broader Accelerating Growth Plan, it would be selling 126 existing restaurants and converting 112 others into a new integrated restaurant and additional higher-returning Premier Inn rooms, adding a food & beverage format that guests prefer plus thousands of new rooms across the UK. The legal team played a leading role on the strategy and execution of the project, including advising on the sale and conversion of the properties and partnering with the HR team on supporting our impacted employees.  

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives?  

Over the years, the legal team have supported Whitbread achieve several goals as part of its Force for Good strategy, a sustainability programme which aims to ensure we have a positive impact on all of our stakeholders, the communities we are part of and the world around us.  As a team we have played a crucial role in developing the existing relationship with Hereward College, which focuses on expanding opportunities for young people with disabilities and additional needs by providing supported internships.  

At Hereward College, Whitbread has established a mini Premier Inn hotel that serves as a realistic training facility, allowing students to gain hands-on experience in various aspects of hotel management, guest relations ad housekeeping, ultimately aiming to support more young people with disabilities in gaining valuable work experience and securing employment.  This year, we enhanced this relationship with Hereward by formalising an arrangement that will deliver a structured and consistent supported internship programme across the UK, enabling work with other colleges and local authorities. We hope that this programme will act as a blueprint for both expanding Whitbread’s inclusive employment, and for other major employers also seeking to improve employment prospects and retention rates for those with disabilities in their businesses.  

How does the team stay updated with changing regulations/sanctions, ensure compliance, and handle legal landscape or industry trends?  

We conduct a horizon scanning on a quarterly basis with our law firms, leveraging their experience to keep us informed of emerging regulatory developments, and where required asking these firm to provide detailed analyses and interpretation based on our business needs and operations. We also work closely with our own internal subject matter experts who participate in industry forums, attend conferences and undergo continuous training and development to stay current with legal trends. Changes in the ESG space in particular are fast paced and so a muti-faceted approach is imperative to stay ahead.