Today Travelodge has taken another big step in cementing its place as the biggest hotel brand in Edinburgh with the opening of its 11th hotel in the capital.
The 96-bed hotel has opened its doors for the first time ready to serve the raft of customers attending the Edinburgh Festival, with the hotel on track to be fully booked on its opening weekend. The £7.9m hotel is located on Waterloo Place, Edinburgh and will offer rooms from £19.
In the past 15 months Travelodge has opened five hotels in the Scottish capital, taking the total room stock to more than 1,000 rooms across 11 hotels. The budget hotel company has more than doubled its room stock in the past decade, adding seven city centre locations to its operation since 2000.
Edinburgh continues to be a key target location for Travelodge due to its strong tourism economy, with the Edinburgh Festival being the biggest revenue driver for the hotels every year. In addition, Edinburgh is already Travelodge's busiest city throughout the whole of the UK for this year's New Year celebrations.
Travelodges growth has been fuelled by the Scottish capitals unprecedented demand for budget accommodation. Branded low-cost hotel supply has grown by 300 in the past 10 years and now represents 20.4%* of the city's hotel supply. Travelodge has achieved the majority of its recent rapid growth by taking over four three and fourstar hotels, totaling 388 rooms in the city centre.
The budget chain aims to grow its operation in the city by a further 75% by 2012 and smashed the thousand-room barrier with the opening of its Edinburgh Waterloo Place Travelodge this week. And the company says that it is determined to find even more sites in the coming months and years.
Travelodge's Chief Executive Officer, Guy Parsons said: "Growth in Edinburgh has been one of our priorities as it is such an important tourism economy. We have committed around £50 million to new hotels in the city over the past three years, acquiring existing hotels that had fallen below the standards that the modern day consumer expects. We are very pleased to have secured this fantastic city centre location and are looking forward to adding more hotels in the city over the coming months and years."
Visit Scotland's Chairman Mike Cantlay said: "It is great to hear that big players like Travelodge are looking to grow further, adding more quality, low priced accommodation to the city. With some travelers' budgets restricted due to the current economic situation, it is vital that we offer quality accommodation to suit a range of budgets in Edinburgh."
According to a Melvin Gold Consulting report on hotel supply, the UK budget sector is set to treble by 2027 to 225,000 rooms. This forecasted growth mirrors the rise of the budget sectors in France and the US where demand for low cost accommodation has been driven by the internet and increased supply.
In a new Edinburgh Hotel Supply report**, released by Melvin Gold in 2009 it was stated that the Scottish capitals budget hotel share was still someway behind some of Britains key tourism cities such as Glasgow (31.4%), Liverpool (36.5%) and Birmingham (28.9%). The report claimed that budget supply is still relatively low, allowing plenty of potential for growth.
Melvin Gold from Melvin Gold Consulting Ltd said: "The budget sector has been the key growth sector in the hotel industry over the last decade and it still has a considerable way to go. Despite the significant increase in budget accommodation in Edinburgh over the last decade, there is still plenty of opportunity for growth in the city".
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