Whitbread plc has appointed Jill Anderson as a director of its property acquisition team to help reach its target of 125,000 UK and Ireland bedrooms. Jill Anderson, who will be joining from Costa Coffee's property acquisition team, will lead Whitbread's property expansion in Scotland, Northern Ireland and North England. Anderson has more than 25 years of experience in property acquisition and development and spent 10 years working at Costa Coffee, where she was responsible for expanding its estate in the South West. She has also worked in similar roles at Tesco and Somerfield.

The appointment follows Whitbread's long-term network target announcement on 25 October.