Travelodge to open 15 new hotels in 2014

The chain will spend a total of £100m on expanding its portfolio and modernising existing hotels this year.

Five of the new hotels will open in London, while new city centre hotels are also planned for Glasgow, Manchester, Southampton and Oxford.

Outside of major cities, Travelodge is targeting popular UK holiday destinations, with plans to build hotels in the seaside towns of Southport, Christchurch, Llandudno and Ryde, and the spa town of Harrogate.

All of the new hotels will feature Travelodge’s new bedroom design, which incorporates blue and red theming and king-sized ‘Travelodge Dreamer’ beds, as well as newly styled bathrooms.

Travelodge began refurbishing the bedrooms in its existing hotels in March last year and said it would continue the modernisation programme this year, spending £37m on updating 11,800 rooms to bring them into line with the new style.

Peter Gowers, Travelodge chief executive said: “2014 marks the next stage on our journey to build a new Travelodge that is Britain’s favourite hotel for value.

“During the last year we modernised more than 200 of our hotels across the country and we are on schedule to transform the majority of our portfolio by this autumn.

“With this further investment in new hotels, we’re delighted to be expanding into great new locations where our customers want to go, for both business and leisure."

Oxford expansion​

One city that will benefit from Travelodge’s expansion and refurbishment programme this year is Oxford.

Travelodge confirmed today that it has exchanged contracts on a 66-bedroom hotel in central Oxford, which is scheduled to open in Spring 2015.

The budget chain is spending £2.5m on the hotel, which will be the third Travelodge in the city, and has also committed to spending £1.3m on upgrading its five existing Oxfordshire hotels.

Having already refurbished its Burford Cotswolds, Oxford Wheatley and Thame hotels, the chain will this year update its 133-bed Bicester Cherwell Valley and 197-bed Oxford Peartree hotels.

“Oxford has 9.5 million visitors a year, a thriving economy and a population that has grown by 12% over the last decade,” said Travelodge’s UK development director Tony O’Brien.

“The demand for our two existing hotels that serve Oxford is very high and saw us accommodate 71,000 people last year.

“The Cowley Road hotel will enable us to meet the expectation of our customers that we secure the best possible locations across the UK.”

Redhill hotel​

Travelodge is also gaining a new property in Redhill as part of a regeneration programme.

The 68-room bedroom hotel is being built by Sainsbury’s as part of its redevelopment of the Warwick Quandrant, which will see will see 135,000 square feet of office space demolished to make room for an extended supermarket, with a hotel and gym built above the store.

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council is funding the hotel element of the development and has agreed to lease it to Travelodge once completed.