Budget chain Travelodge aims to create 450 news jobs with the opening of 22 new UK hotels before Christmas.
One property will open every six days as part of a £125 million investment to add almost 2,000 more rooms.
Travelodge plans to expand its portfolio to 70,000 rooms – approximately 1,000 hotels – by 2020 from 350 this autumn.
It aims to be the biggest hotel firm in London by the 2012 Olympics with more than 7,000 rooms in the capital.
This will be done through a combination of new builds, taking over existing hotels, converting office blocks and converting listed buildings.
The company is looking for customers, staff and consumers to inform it of potential hotel sites via its property website www.travelodgedevelopment.co.uk to gain a finders’ fee.
Development managing director Paul Harvey said: “The credit crunch is forcing people to review their spending habits and we are seeing more customers shift to budget hotel accommodation.
“These 22 new hotels, in some of the top UK locations, will add 1,949 new rooms to our portfolio – helping us to make hotels available to more people than ever before.
“We continue to actively seek and pursue, new development and growth opportunities as we are looking to open a further 4,000 new rooms in 2009.”
New hotel openings are:
October:
Hereford
Devizes
Stevenage
Barking
November:
Worthing Seafront
Wolverhampton
December:
Middlesbrough
Borenhamwood
Stratford upon Avon
Chelmsford
Torquay
Ashbourne
Stafford Central
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Blackpool Tower
Cardiff Atlantic Wharf
Pontypool
Portmadog
Caernarfon
Heathrow Central
Tower of London
Edinburgh
by Phil Davies
