Travelodge has announced today that it has made available a multi- million pound bounty pot as it seeks to tap into Londoners local knowledge to find sites for a £750 million, 120 hotel, expansion in the Capital.
The 120 locations have been identified across each of the 32 London boroughs (and the City of London), with the intention being to open at least one new hotel at each of them by 2020. The challenge now is to find suitable properties or land, with the bounty pot being created to encourage Londoners to contact the budget hotel chain at www.travelodgedevelopment.co.uk and recommend a site.
The incentive for anyone who recommends a site that subsequently opens as a hotel is £500 per room, up to £150,000 e.g. a 100 bedroom hotel will result in a £50,000 reward.
The budget hotel chain is very flexible on construction, with hotels previously being built in former office blocks, listed buildings, brand new developments and even a farm house.
To make the task even easier, Travelodge has placed a video on You Tube that provides budding property locaters with all the information they will need to assist them with the challenge.
To view the video please click on the link below:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI6ZnvxEiCw:external]
Tony O'Brien, UK Property Director for Travelodge, said:
"To help us meet our ambitious growth targets we are offering Londoners the opportunity to profit from something everybody has: local knowledge. Across the capital we have identified 120 locations that we believe are suitable for a hotel but now we need to secure the sites to make it happen.
"If anyone thinks that they have identified a suitable site they should get in touch with us through www.travelodgedevelopment.co.uk. If the site has not been identified by us before and we build a hotel on it then we will pay out a bounty of £500 per room - not a bad return for having a look around and sending in an email.
Ken Kelling, Visit London Communications Director commented,
"This is a great challenge for Londoners to explore their local area and discover some unique development sites right on their doorstep. Many people do not take the opportunity to explore their own area whether it be parks, attractions or activities and hopefully this Travelodge quest will stir up local pride in each of the boroughs."
Travelodge believes that there is scope to expand from its existing 38 hotels in the capital due to two factors:
1) The lack of affordable, quality accommodation in the central London boroughs
2) The lack of hotels in the outer London boroughs.
It is the lack of hotel rooms in outer London in particular that Travelodge is seeking to capitalise on. In North London for instance, London Development Agency research shows that there are only 2,812 rooms for a population of over 1 million.
Tony OBrien continued:
"Whilst the centre of London is well serviced by high calibre 5* hotels, there is a real lack of quality, affordable accommodation. This only serves to enhance Londons reputation as an expensive destination, a tag that it could do without in the current climate.
"In outer London there is simply a lack of any form of hotel accommodation. Our experience is that the demand is there as both tourists and business people do not necessarily want to stay in central London where prices are higher. If London is to achieve a sustainable tourism legacy from the Olympics it is important that the whole city benefits, not just the central London boroughs."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Travelodge currently has 28 hotels in London, providing 4,456 rooms. Two further hotels are set to open in 2009 with a further seven currently being constructed. This takes the room total to 5,515, 4% of the total London hotel market.
About Travelodge
The first budget hotel brand to launch in the UK in 1985, Travelodge now operates 375 Hotels (over 26,000 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.