Flying high: Travelodge opens fifth hotel at Heathrow
The six-storey hotel on Lampton Road is the third Travelodge to spring up within a five-mile radius of Heathrow Airport since the recession began in 2007 – a total investment of £70m and a boost to the local economy of £15m.
London Hounslow Travelodge is being managed by Kelly Prychidko, who grew up in the area and started her career with Travelodge as a room cleaner in 1998.
“I’m very excited to be managing a hotel on the very road that I grew up on,” said Prychidko. “This is a great location for business and leisure travellers. The demand for branded, good quality budget accommodation at Heathrow is growing at a great pace.
“The majority of our customers are passengers flying in and out of Heathrow Airport.”
“Our hotel has got off to a flying start, we are enjoying high occupancy and we are already sold out for the forthcoming Bank Holiday and business on the books for summer is looking very good.”
Tesco growth
Today’s announcement comes just days after our exclusive video interview with Travelodge’s chief executive Grant Hearn, in which he revealed how he plans to learn from the growth of supermarkets. Watch that video here.
"We have a very clear agenda," Hearn said. "We have got to make our product competitive with Premier Inn. We are going to continue selling that product at a better price than they do because we are very good at controlling costs.
"Neither of us (Travelodge and Premier Inn) is really at 10 per cent of the market yet, while Tesco is at over 30 per cent, so there is a long way to go in terms of growth.
"There are a number of things we have got to do: we have got to have a consistent product, we have got to access customers who have used us in the past and who have a certain image of us and we also have to pick up our service because our people have had a very concerning time over the last two to three years.”
The chain recently announced its growth strategy for London and announced it is looking for a further 145 hotels across London. These openings will create 4,000 new jobs across the capital and boost the local economy annually by £290million.
The Mayor of Hounslow, Pritam Grewal, officially opened London Hounslow Travelodge at a special opening ceremony where he met the team and took a tour of the hotel.
