LEISURE group Whitbread posted an increase in sales after strong showings at its Travel Inn hotels and David Lloyd Leisure health clubs.

Travel Inn saw like-for-like sales growth of 6.5 per cent in the 24 weeks to August 17, while David Lloyd shot up 6.3 per cent over 22 weeks.

Whitbread chief executive David Thomas said he was particularly pleased with Travel Inn, calling it a "remarkable performance".

He said: "The key to value creation for this brand is increased distribution and we have added a further 531 rooms during the period to bring the total to 16,455."

At David Lloyd, Mr Thomas said the growth proved the "continuing consumer appetite" for premium health and fitness clubs.

But despite the strong performances, overall group sales in the 24 weeks to August 17 were ahead just 3.8 per cent.

This was in part due to weak sales at Whitbread's high-end hotel chain Marriott, which reported a 1.9 per cent dip.

As with most in the sector, the chain was rocked as the fragile world economy and September 11 hit travel and tourism.

But Mr Thomas said: "Marriott has done well to mitigate the full effect of market conditions with a mix of vigorous sales activity and effective cost control measures."

He said occupancy was in line with the previous year while underlying sales had returned to positive territory in recent weeks.