Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC), the US hotel operator, will tomorrow announce a franchise deal in the UK that will see the development of 25 budget Hampton Inns costing about £300 million.

The hotels, to be branded as Hampton by Hilton, will be developed over the next five years by Somerston Hotels, a privately-owned company that already owns and operates 34 hotels, mostly under the Express by Holiday Inn franchise .

The deal is part of a big push by HHC to expand its lower-tier brands such as DoubleTree, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton outside America.

The first Garden Inn will open next year in Luton as part of a £16 million investment while the company is in talks with several existing hotel operators about signing a DoubleTree franchise and converting their properties to the flag.

HHC embarked on an ambitious international expansion strategy after acquiring Hilton International for £3.3 billion last year from what is now Ladbrokes. That deal not only reunited the Hilton brand globally for the first time since 1964, but also gave HHC the right to develop its domestic brands around the world.

The strategy is being spearheaded by Ian Carter, head of Hilton International, who stayed on after the takeover by HHC. Mr Carter said: “We have a target of doubling our UK estate from 75 to 150 hotels in ten years.”

Last week, HHC announced franchise deals covering expansion in Russia, the Caribbean and Central America. It also unveiled a multi-brand agreement with Shiva Hotels, another UK company, that will add at least 15 hotels in Britain under the Hilton, DoubleTree, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton brands.

Somerston, a family owned business, said it also had a pipeline of new Express by Holiday Inn sites and was considering the possibility of developing some Hilton Garden Inns.

Somerston's origins date back to 1854 when Ralph Chapman went into business as a ship’s agent. In 1878 the company started operating merchant ships though during the Second World War it lost a large proportion of its fleet in the Atlantic convoys.

In the 1960s, after more than a century in the shipping business, the Chapman family made the decision to diversify its interests. By 1975, the last of the shipping interests had been sold and property investment and development had become the focus. It is still controlled by the Chapman family.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax