July is busy for Travelodge: seven hotels to open – four of them in London – making the budget hotel chain the largest hotelier in the capital for the Olympic Games.
With a combined investment value of £36 million, the new openings in Balham, Enfield, ExCel and Woolwich will mean that Travelodge has 54 hotels in London (7,024 rooms) and has hit the target it set three years ago of becoming the largest hotelier for the start of the Olympic Games.
The four new hotels have created 117 jobs across London, and all new recruits have been hired from the long term unemployed. Travelodge currently employs a total of 1,400 staff across the capital.
Much more in development
Travelodge will not ease up on its development plans in the capital: a further four hotels are set to open after the Olympics, and another five are scheduled to open in 2013, providing a total of 1,015 additional rooms. Travelodge’s development team has also identified another 50 locations across London that would be suitable for a new hotel.
The reason for the expansion by Travelodge is that there is an under capacity of budget hotel rooms in London. A recent report by hotel industry analyst Melvin Gold has identified that in the capital just 17% of the hotel supply is provided by the branded budget sector, compared to over 28% in UK cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow.
Grant Hearn, Chief Executive of Travelodge Hotels, said:
“To be London’s largest hotel brand at the start of the Olympics is an achievement that everyone in the business is proud of. Our growth strategy for the capital is not however based around the Olympics. We have long recognised that London has a shortage of good quality, affordable hotel rooms, not just in the centre but also in the suburbs.”
As well as the four hotels in London, Travelodge is also opening hotels in July at Hemel Hempstead, Cheshire Oaks and Tamworth. These openings will be creating 60 new jobs.
Special offers
To help cash strapped Britons afford a break in the capital this summer, Travelodge has released over 30,000 rooms across London priced from £25.50 to £95 for the period between 19 June to 9 September 2012. It has also launched a new summer of sports Bar Café menu where customers can enjoy a two course meal and a glass of wine or soft drink for £9.95.
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Summary of openings
Four London hotels that open in July are located in: Balham, Enfield, ExCel and Woolwich,
Four hotels that open in London after the Olympic Games are located in: Bethnal Green, Bromley, Clapham and Sidcup
And in 2013, the hotels that Travelodge will be opening in the capital are located in: Charlton, Hounslow, Raynes Park, Vauxhall and Walthamstow.