The West Midlands’ first budget hotel brand, Travelodge, is celebrating its 30th anniversary in the county and to mark this milestone, the company is opening its first hotel in West Bromwich.
West Bromwich Travelodge is the Company’s 545th hotel and is also the first of two new hotels Travelodge is opening in the West Midlands this year. The second Travelodge hotel is scheduled to open later this year in Dudley – the town’s third Travelodge hotel.
A champagne reception was held to celebrate the opening of West Bromwich where the newly appointed Mayor of Sandwell, Councillor Ahmadul Haque M.B.E, joined Tom Edwards, Travelodge Revenue Director to officially open the hotel.
At the opening event, Travelodge announced that the West Midlands is a key growth area for the company and that it is looking to expand its portfolio and is looking for seven new hotels sites across the county. Locations include: Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Edgbaston and two sites in Coventry.
This expansion programme will boost Travelodge’s portfolio to 35 hotels in the West Midlands and will create over 200 new jobs.
West Bromwich Travelodge, a 78-room hotel with onsite car-parking and Bar Café is located in Providence Place, a multi-million pound regeneration area. The hotel represents an investment of £6 million for the landlord and has created 30 new jobs within the local community.
The hotel has been designed in the next generation of the company’s ‘Travelodgical’ contemporary room design. Together with the bespoke king size Travelodge Dreamer bed, this includes new bedside USB charging points, new softer LED ceiling lighting to give the room a warmer feel, comfort cooling system and a Samsung 32 inch digital television.
Travelodge, one of the UK’s largest independent hotel brands, opened its first hotel in the West Midlands in 1987 – Birmingham Frankly M5 southbound Travelodge. The 62-room hotel is trading strongly today and its two receptionists, Carol Masters and Angela Bradshaw have been working at the hotel for over 20 years.
Tom Edwards, Travelodge Revenue Director said: “We are delighted to be celebrating our 30th anniversary in the West Midlands by opening our first hotel in West Bromwich. Over the last three decades, Travelodge has become famous across the county for offering unbeatable value and making travel affordable for everyone, which has helped attract more business and leisure travellers to the area.”
“As we look to the future, the West Midlands is a key growth area for Travelodge. Following our £5 million investment in upgrading the customer experience and raising quality levels across our West Midlands hotels, we have seen a significant increase in sales; interestingly with more business customers staying in our hotels than ever before.
“The West Midlands economy is growing at pace and with increasing visitor numbers to the area, there is still a shortage of good quality accommodation at a great value price. Therefore to meet this growing consumer demand we are looking for new hotel sites in the following locations: Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Edgbaston and two sites in Coventry. This expansion programme will boost Travelodge’s portfolio to 35 hotels in the West Midlands and create over 200 new jobs.”
Deano Farshbaf, West Bromwich Travelodge Hotel Manager said: “Not in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be making history by managing West Bromwich’s first Travelodge in the area, it’s such an honour.”
“I am very proud to have built a fantastic team who are as passionate as myself about delivering great customer service. Our West Bromwich Travelodge has got off to a flying start. We are booked out with business customers during the week and with leisure travellers at the weekend. Our new hotel will help to attract new visitors to the area, which is great news for the local economy, as our research shows annually Travelodge customers will spend nearly £2 million with local businesses during their stay”