Swedish furniture giant Ikea is to open a string of budget hotels across western Europe and has teamed up with hotel giant Marriott International to support the venture.

The partnership will develop 50 hotels with 150 to 300 rooms each in major cities across western Europe in the next five years.

The first of the chain of hotels will open in Milan next year, it is not yet clear what name the hotels will trade under. IKEA revealed it was eyeing the hotel market last year.

Ikea’s property division’s head of inter-hospitality Peter Andrews said the agreement allowed the group “to build a high-quality hotel property investment portfolio”, The Guardian reported.