TRAVELODGE ANNOUNCES 750 JOBS IN SUMMER RECRUITMENT DRIVE

Travelodge, the UK’s largest independent hotel brand, has announced a major summer recruitment drive, with the creation of 750 new jobs, including 250 jobs as a result of ten new hotel openings across the UK in between now and the end of the year

Job recruitment starts today and positions include: Hotel Manager, Assistant Hotel Manager, Receptionist, Housekeeper, Guest Room Cleaner and Bar Café Assistant roles, as well as roles in the company’s hotel support centre in Thame, Oxfordshire.

The company has also today launched a brand new careers website at https://www.travelodge.co.uk/careers/ to support the drive, which includes all current vacancies as well as information about working at Travelodge, including video testimonials from staff.

Travelodge is opening ten hotels between now and the end of the year, at an investment of £70 million. The company has already opened five hotels already this year (Egham, London Wembley High Road, Southampton, Winnersh and Llandudno). In its six months results ended 1^st July 2015, the company also announced it is scheduled to open 45 hotels and 3,600 rooms in the next 24 months, as the company continues to enjoy strong growth on the back of its £100m modernisation programme.

Detailed below are locations for the ten new openings and job creation per hotel:

In addition to the 250 new jobs being created via Travelodge's new hotel openings, the company is also recruiting for 480 jobs across the UK for its 504 hotels. The positions include 30 hotel management roles in locations such as: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Canterbury, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leicester, London, Manchester, Oxford and York.

There are also 450 team member and guest room cleaner opportunities in Travelodge hotels right across the UK.

The remaining 20 roles are based at Travelodge’s support office in Thame and include positions in the following departments: marketing, digital marketing, sales, revenue management, HR, finance, procurement, and customer services

The positions mean that Travelodge is further boosting the number of people it employs, after the company brought all guest room cleaning staff in-house earlier this year. As a result, Travelodge employs almost 10,000 people.

Travelodge offers support and training for staff to develop their potential and become hotel managers in the future. The company’s eight-week GEM programme (Gaining Entry into Management) fast tracks entry level staff to hotel management positions, with over 400 people graduating since the programme launched.

Peter Gowers, Travelodge Chief Executive said: "The hotel business is a place where you really can climb the career ladder and where your work can take you all over the world.  Over the last few years at Travelodge we've helped more than 3,000 people get into work and more than 400 become hotel managers. The opportunities are out there. It’s all about getting that first foot on the ladder."

One example of this is Debbie Husband, who joined Travelodge in 2004 as an Assistant Hotel Manager and who today is UK Operations Director, looking after operations across 504 hotels and 10,000 employees.

Debbie Husband, Travelodge UK Operations Director said: “If you want to get a job in the hotel industry, do not be afraid to start at the bottom. If you are a team player and demonstrate a flexible approach then you can go all the way to the top at Travelodge. Through that approach I have gone from an assistant hotel manager post to a Director role, and there is nothing stopping others from following that same career path.”

For further information on careers at Travelodge visit the new careers website: www.travelodge.co.uk/careers

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For further information and for images, please contact:

The Travelodge Press Office on: 01844 358 703 or by emailing: pressoffice@travelodge.co.uk