The new Travelodge is located at Station Approach in the town centre and has 107 bedrooms. Its opening has also created 19 new jobs within the local community. The hotel has been opened as part of the £20m regeneration project to bring Walthamstow Central Station back to life.
Travelodge revenue director Tom Edwards said: “As London’s biggest hotel operator, we’re delighted to open our first hotel in Walthamstow. There is a desperate need for good quality accommodation within the area and our new hotel is centrally based to offer the best value to business and leisure customers.”
The opening of the new hotel will mean Travelodge has 61 hotels in London and 513 nationwide.
New brand style
The Walthamstow Travelodge has been designed using the company’s new brand style. This means that bedrooms include a ‘luxury’ style king sized bed known as the Travelodge Dreamer. The hotel has family, double and accessible rooms.
Each of the rooms in Walthamstow Travelodge has en-suite bathrooms which include toiletries and eco-friendly showers. There is also a flat screen TV with 18 digital channels and tea and coffee making facilities. Guests get 30 minutes of WiFi free, then 24 hours WiFi service costs £3.
There is a Bar Café in the hotel which serves breakfast and dinner, as well as having an operating bar.
Staff training
The new Travelodge is being run by hotel manager Bhavin Desai, who started as a receptionist at the company in 2008 and has moved into a management position since then through the Travelodge in-house training programme. The 19 new employees for the Walthamstow Travelodge have been recruited through the company’s partnership with Job Centre Plus, attempting to get the long term unemployed back to work.
Desai said: “I am delighted to managing the first branded value hotel in Walthamstow. There has been a growing demand for good quality value accommodation in the area for some time. By attracting new visitors to the area we will annually boost the local economy by £2m, as our research shows the average Travelodge customer will spend on average £36 in local businesses during their stay.
“The hotel has got off to a flying start and we are already enjoying high occupancy levels and look set for a busy autumn and October half term. With London’s Kings Cross train station only six stops on the underground, customers can easily explore the capital city, visit some of the UK’s best tourist attractions or catch a West End show at the theatre.”