Budget hotel chain Premier Inn has invested £35 million into Edinburgh with three new hotels and ongoing refurbishments and extensions, bringing 150 jobs and 10 apprenticeships to the city.

Around half of the full and part-time, year-round positions across the three new hotels have gone to those between the ages of 16-24 and long-term unemployed, with roles ranging from receptionists and restaurant team to housekeeping and maintenance roles.

Two of the hotels, located in the Old Town off the Royal Mile on New Market Street, will open at the end of this month, including the first hub in Scotland with 121-bedrooms, and adjacent, a 127-bedroom Premier Inn. Scheduled to open in late Spring will be a 127-bedroom Premier Inn hotel in the New Town in York Place taking the total number of hotels in the city to 14, with over 1500 rooms.

The hub is the only hotel in the world that allows guests to control their room settings using an Apple Watch.

Simon Ewins, chief operating officer for Premier Inn and hub, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be opening three new fantastic hotels in Edinburgh and it is great that we are able to bring so many jobs and apprenticeships to the city. hub is a new concept for us which we are really excited about, especially as this is the first one in Scotland and outside of London. We are confident our guests visiting the beautiful city of Edinburgh will enjoy this new digital experience and we will look to open more in Scotland in the future.”

Additional investment in the city includes a £1.8m extension at Premier Inn Newcraighall and a £1.2m refurbishment at Edinburgh Central, which follows on from the recent successful opening of the £7m hotel in St Andrews in October 2015.

This will take the number of hotels in Scotland to 68, which is part of Premier Inn’s expansion plan that will see the company extend its current number of bedrooms UK-wide to 85,000 by 2020.