COMMENT

STRICT new curbs on the opening of budget hotels are set to be put in place in Edinburgh city centre after it emerged they were preventing luxury chains from investing in the city and thwarting other major developments.

New research has revealed that budget hotel chains like Premier Inn and Travelodge now make up more than half of the capital’s hotel stock for the first time.

The city council has admitted Edinburgh’s hotel offering has become too heavily “weighted” in favour of budget operators during the downturn since the crash of 2008.

Now it is to launch a drive to target big-spending visitors and expensive hotel chains amid warnings that Edinburgh is failing to meet key industry growth targets,

“You would always want to attract higher-end hotels to Edinburgh to get greater value out of the visitors who come here”

ROBIN WORSNOP