18 New Hotels Opened First Half of 2011
43 Travelodge Hotels Currently Being Built
Travelodge, the UK’s fastest growing hotel chain has today announced that it has exchanged on 22 new hotels (2,198 rooms) across the UK at a combined investment value of £165 million.
As part of its new hotel exchange update, Travelodge is delighted to announce its new partnership with Arcadia Group Ltd, the UK’s largest privately owned clothing retailer. Under this new scheme, Arcadia Group Ltd will forward fund the construction of a 96-room Travelodge hotel, above its Topshop store; in Edinburgh’s retail heartland - Princes Street.
The famous grade ll listed building which houses Edinburgh’s largest Topshop store and the forthcoming new Travelodge hotel was Scotland’s very first steel frame building. The development is scheduled to open in summer 2012 and Travelodge has agreed a 35 year lease with Arcadia Group Ltd, which represents a £10 million investment. This new addition will increase Travelodge’s room stock to 1,230 rooms and 13 hotels in the Scottish capital - maintaining its title of Edinburgh’s largest hotelier.
Some of the other locations from the exchange announcement include: five London sites: Walthamstow, Enfield, Bethnal Green, Sutton and Southgate. As well as: Edinburgh Queen Street, Eastleigh, Loughborough, Sittingbourne, Bedford, Gatwick Airport, Darlington, Altrincham, Malvern, Aylesbury, Newquay, Woking, Glasgow Airport, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Lynn and Barcelona.
In addition, the Company has opened 18 hotels in the first half of 2011 and is currently building 43 hotels (4,280 rooms). Twenty one of these properties are anticipated to open before the end of this year.
Upon construction, these new sites will boost the Company’s estate to 540 hotels and 39,957 rooms. These new hotel openings will also create 1,300 new jobs across the country.
This year Travelodge will also open five hotels in London and six just before the start of the Olympic Games in 2012. These openings will strengthen Travelodge’s position as the Capital’s biggest hotelier.
Guy Parsons, Travelodge, Chief Executive said: “The strength of Travelodge’s growth model has clearly been demonstrated, with the first six months of 2011 being the strongest in the Company’s history. We are not just exchanging contracts but most importantly finance is being secured upfront, to enable our developers to start on-site immediately. Everybody knows how difficult it is to obtain bank funding at the moment, so to have financed so many new schemes must be one of the biggest success stories of the UK property industry”.
“Arcadia forward funding our new hotel in one of the most prestigious locations in Edinburgh just demonstrates how flexible the Travelodge development model is. Situated over four floors above Edinburgh’s biggest Topshop store on Princes Street, we will be utilizing space that was previously used for office and storage space. Given the lack of new development sites in central Edinburgh this really is one of the most prominent sites left in the city and we are delighted to have secured it.”
The branded budget hotel sector has been recognised as the most dynamic segment of the UK hotel industry. Its market share is set to grow from 16% to 26% by 2030*.
This growth is expected to be fuelled via new development, acquisition and conversion of independent and mid-market hotels which no longer satisfies the 21st century consumer.
Guy Parsons, said: “Today’s consumers want the certainty and services offered by branded budget hotel operators. They are moving away in significant numbers from the independent, unbranded accommodation sector, much of which is of poor quality. This trend is set to grow further and Travelodge is stepping in to give customers what they want – a good night’s sleep at an affordable price in great locations.
In line with this growing tend from consumers wanting budget accommodation; we have increased our growth targets and plan to have 1,100 hotels in Europe with over 100,000 rooms by 2025.”
Hotel industry consultant Melvin Gold said: “The UK branded budget hotel sector has grown 10% per annum in the past decade and exceeded 20% in the prior decade. It’s the fastest growing part of our industry and in the next two decades we can expect to see a UK budget hotel being built, opened or converted every five days.”
Travelodge is a power brand within the branded budget sector and as a result of the phenomenal growth opportunity within the market place; the brand could gain up to 15% of the market.
Over the last five years Travelodge has heavily focused on city centre growth to rebalance its portfolio away from roadside locations. Today 18% of Travelodge rooms are in London, 62% of rooms are in major cities and towns with the remaining 20% of rooms located at major motorways and roadside locations.
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Notes to editors:
*These figures are from the second UK serviced accommodation supply study commissioned by Travelodge. The report written by Melvin Gold, is the most comprehensive and accurate assessment of hotel supply in the UK. Findings revealed the total number of serviced bedrooms in the UK at present stands at 729,000 with the budget sector currently at 115,000 – an increase of 35% from 2007 when total budget rooms was 85,665. The full report is available to download at: http://www.melvingoldconsulting.com
The first budget hotel brand to launch in the UK in 1985, Travelodge now operates 475 hotels and 33,479 rooms across the UK, Ireland (11) and Spain (3). Travelodge plans to grow its estate to 1,100 hotels and 100,000 rooms by 2025. Over 13 million people stayed with Travelodge last year and 90% of reservations are currently made online at www.travelodge.co.uk, where room rates start at £19 per night. The chain employs over 6,000 staff.