The group, which also owns coffee chain Costa and restaurants Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, said the positioning of its brands in value for money segments had served it well in the current climate.

Pre-tax profits from continuing operations for the six months to August 28 rose to £123.3m after like-for-like sales improved 7 per cent.

Chief executive Alan Parker added: "Whilst we anticipate that conditions will become more challenging in the remainder of the year, since the end of August the group continues to make good progress across our leading brands in the value for money sectors."

Whitbread's trading improvement has been driven by the performance of Premier Inns, which has benefited from the trend for corporate customers to trade down to budget hotels in the economic downturn.

Total sales at Premier increased by 17.8 per cent to £311m, with sales excluding the impact of hotel openings ahead by 10.1 per cent on a year earlier. The occupancy rate was 79.3 per cent, which Whitbread said was well ahead of industry average.

Premier offered 37,231 rooms in 532 hotels at the end of August after adding 1,380 new rooms during the first half of the year.