Travelodge, the UK's fastest growing hotel chain, has today announced that it has exchanged on 12 new hotels at a combined investment value of £77 million. Giving the hotel company an additional 1,443 rooms, the expansion will also create 200 new jobs with all entry level staff being recruited through Job Centre Plus.
The new hotels will be located in:
Location Number of rooms
Cambridge 230
Edinburgh 115
Egham 80
Epsom 85
Liverpool 66
London Penge 89
London Twickenham 111
London Waterloo 279
London Whetstone 96
Northampton 75
Rugby 72
Salford Quays 145
Upon construction, these sites will add an additional 1,443 rooms to Travelodge's existing 26,400 room portfolio. In London, the 575 rooms take Travelodge's total to 5,000 rooms, keeping it on track to become the largest hotelier in London by the time of the 2012 Olympics.
Two of the exchanges announced today also continue Travelodge's recent trend of working with the UK's leading supermarkets. The new Egham hotel will be built above a Waitrose whilst the Rugby property will be constructed on top of a Tesco.
In addition to the exchanges announced today, a further 16 hotels across the UK are being constructed at present. When completed, these hotels will add a further 1,560 rooms to the portfolio over the next two years.
Paul Harvey, Managing Director for Development at Travelodge, said:
"The addition of so many sites is just the start to what will be a large number of exchanges in 2009. Since the onset of the recession we have been offered more locations and going concerns than ever before, often in prime locations that just one year ago would have been unviable.
"Given that budget hotels only amount to 13 per cent of the UKs hotel market, there is clearly strong potential for growth. With a strong pipeline of properties identified I fully expect Travelodge to exit the recession in a stronger position than we entered."
About Travelodge:
The first budget hotel brand to launch in the UK in 1985, Travelodge now operates 372 hotels 25, 500 rooms ten in Ireland, three in Spain and the rest in the UK. Travelodge plans to grow its estate to 70,000 rooms approximately 1000 hotels by 2020.
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 .