Travelodge, the UK’s first budget hotel, today announces it has exchanged contracts to take over the running of three mid-market branded hotels. This includes two Ramada Encore hotels in Milton Keynes and in Chatham as well as a Days Inn property in Derby.
The three hotels will boost the Travelodge portfolio to approximately 530 properties. Across the three hotels, 60 staff have been transferred over to Travelodge via TUPE.
The two Ramada Encore hotels include a 159-room property with a 70-seat restaurant, two meeting rooms and car-parking for 70 cars in the heart of Milton Keynes city centre. A private investor sold its freehold interest at a NIY of 5.74% to a pension fund client of La Salle Investment Management and Travelodge has taken a 25 year lease to operate the hotel.
The landlord is investing £1.2 million to modernise the hotel in line with Travelodge’s new contemporary brand design. The refurbishment is expected to be completed this autumn and the hotel will operate as normal during this time.
The hotel will trade as ‘Milton Keynes Travelodge at The Hub’ and is the company’s fourth hotel in Milton Keynes
The other Ramada hotel is a 90-room property with 70 space car-parking in Chatham historic dockyard, making it Travelodge’s first hotel in the town. The off-market transaction saw the current tenant surrender their lease to enable the created investment to be forward sold to a private investor at a NIY of 5.99%
The landlord has invested £600,000 modernising the old hotel into a new Travelodge which features the company’s new modern brand design. This investment includes refurbishing all rooms with a new concept which has been designed by Travelodge customers. All rooms now feature the new bespoke, luxurious king-size Travelodge Dreamer bed. In addition individual beds have been introduced for children in all family rooms. The hotel’s reception area has also been updated. The hotel is trading as ‘Chatham Maritime Travelodge’.
The Days Inn hotel in Derby is a 100-room property with a 60-seat restaurant and car parking facilities for 89 vehicles. The hotel is adjacent to the Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Travelodge has entered into a 25 year lease agreement with the London Town Group of Companies to operate this hotel.
The property is currently undergoing extensive refurbishment to modernise the hotel so that it showcases Travelodge’s new brand design. The hotel is scheduled to open this summer and will operate as ‘Travelodge Derby Cricket Ground’. It will be the company’s third hotel in Derby.
Paul Harvey, Travelodge Managing Director, Property said: “We are delighted to have secured these three mid-market hotels and converted
them into Travelodge’s. Britain has become a nation of value shoppers and as a result the budget hotel market continues to go from strength to strength.
With our modernised hotels and unbeatable value, we are well placed to serve the rapidly growing demand for low-cost travel. We see the potential to grow our network of hotels in a further 250 UK locations and currently have approximately 100 hotels in our development pipeline. With our effective business model we can easily convert existing hotels or buildings into thriving Travelodge’s. We look forward to creating more great places for our customers to stay and thousands more jobs over the years ahead.”