Travelodge checks in with plans to boost Scottish estate
L Peterhead hotel to be followed by openings in Stirling and Inverness by the end of 2017 as part of growth plan
Budget hotel operator Travelodge has detailed the latest phase of its Scottish roll-out in a multi-million pound move that looks set to create hundreds of jobs.
The chain, which has more than 540 hotels, chiefly in the UK, but also with a handful in Ireland and Spain, has this week cut the ribbon on its latest Scottish establishment.
The 63-bedroom property in Peterhead also marks the first branded hotel in the Northeast town. The £3 million transformation of flats in the town’s Chapel Street is the first of three openings for Travelodge in Scotland this year.
A 74-room hotel in Stirling and a 54-room Travelodge in Inverness are both scheduled to open towards the end of 2017.
The three hotels represent an investment value of about £14m for third-party investors and developers who fund the properties and then lease them back to Travelodge, while also creating about 50 jobs.
More ambitiously, the firm is eyeing a further 21 potential locations in Scotland, which if secured would mark a 50 per cent increase on the current 42-strong estate. From that target list, nine locations could get their first branded hotel – Ardrossan, Aviemore, Galashiels, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Loch Lomond, Montrose, Oban and Pitlochry. Five targeted areas could get their first Travelodge hotel – East Kilbride, Elgin, Greenock, Newton Mearns and St Andrews.
The Us-owned group is also hopeful it can double its portfolio of hotels in Glasgow, which would equate to five new sites.
Overall, the ongoing Scottish expansion would represent an investment value of £100m for third-party investors and lead to the creation of at least 400 jobs. Across the UK as a whole, Travelodge has identified 250 potential new locations.
The new Inverness and Stirling hotels will feature the next generation of the company’s “Travelodgical” contemporary room design, which incorporates bedside USB charging points, softer ceiling lighting and new 32-inch digital televisions.
Chairman Brian Wallace said: “The value hotel market continues to go from strength to strength in Scotland boosted by cost-conscious businesses looking to reduce travel costs and by the growth in independent leisure travel.”
Commercial and residential property developer Ardent Group was behind the transformation of the Peterhead flats into the new hotel – marking its first project for Travelodge. Heineken UK has agreed with the Society of Independent Brewers (Siba) that licensees at its 1,049 Star Pubs & Bars subsidiary will have access to local ales to meet demand for such drinks and boost variety in its outlets. Heineken UK is in the process of buying another 1,900 pubs from Punch Taverns. Picture, from left, are Mick Howard, Star Pubs & Bars’ strategy director, Ross Evans, licensee of The Ship Tavern in London, and Nick Stafford, Siba’s operations chief.