Travelodge is to open six new budget hotels in Egham, Greenwich, Llandudno, Raynes Park, Southampton and Wembley by the end of the year, with the creation of 200 jobs.
The UK’s biggest independent hotel chain made a £5.6m operating profit in 2013 which was its first positive result since its financial restructuring in 2012.
Travelodge’s newfound confidence is driven, almost exclusively, by its American owners who are already spending around £1m a week in a rolling refurbishment of room decor upgrades and brighter furnishings.
Goldman Sachs and US hedge funds Golden Tree Asset and Avenue Capital Group took over the hospitality company two years ago, immediately trimming its 500-plus sites by nearly 10% and restructuring its finances to reduce Travelodge’s debt by half.
Travelodge — which already has nearly 38,000 budget hotel rooms across Britain — believes that by 2030 the low-cost providers will account for almost a quarter of the UK’s hotel sector.
