Travelodge, the UK's fastest growing hotel company, today announced the acquisition of six hotels from the Menzies Group in conjunction with R20 Ltd - the private investment vehicle of Robert Tchenguiz - for a total consideration of £85 million.*
The six leasehold hotels, located in key tourist or business destinations across the UK, will add 719 rooms to the company's portfolio representing 18% of its 2008 room target.
Travelodge will invest £14 million in converting the Menzies hotels, located in Edinburgh, Bath, Newcastle, Coventry, Oldham and Stevenage. The budget chain has increased the room count from 650 to 719 across the properties following removal of gyms, restaurants and meeting rooms. All six hotels will be trading under the Travelodge brand within the next 12 months.
Paul Harvey, Travelodge's Property Director, said, "All of these properties are fantastic additions to our estate and we are looking forward to offering the Travelodge product to thousands of new customers through these hotels. This acquisition reflects customers' desire for low priced budget accommodation.
"These new hotels, in some of the UK's key tourist spots, will add 719 new rooms to our portfolio, so we are well on our way to reaching our target of 4 000 new rooms by the end of the year. We see acquisition and conversion opportunities as vital to the strength and flexibility of our growth model."
This acquisition closely follows the addition of nine new hotels to the budget chain's estate announced just last week. The new UK sites announced last week total 568 rooms meaning 170 new jobs and an investment of £28.3m.
Paul Harvey said "Our growth programme and a rise in both leisure and business demand is driving real momentum for the Travelodge brand. The addition of 15 sites in the last two weeks demonstrates the strength of our pipeline and property team."
Travelodge served over six million customers in 2007 and encouraged 500,000 more low income families to its hotels than ever before.
The completion of the acquisitions is expected to take six weeks.
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Notes to editors:
Further information
Greg Dawson: 01844 358644
Travelodge
Emily Blyth: 020 7251 3801
Finsbury
*Representing capitalised value lease only. £nil of lease premium paid.
About Travelodge:
The first budget hotel brand to launch in the UK in 1985, Travelodge now operates 330 hotels (over 20,000 rooms) - nine in Ireland, three in Spain and the rest in the UK. Travelodge aims to be the biggest hotel operator in London by the 2012 Olympics with over 7,000 rooms in the capital.
Six and a half million people stayed with Travelodge last year and 87% of reservations are currently made online at travelodge.co.uk, where room rates start at £19 a night. The chain employs 5,500 staff and is owned by Dubai International Capital.