Travelodge, the UK’s first budget hotel brand celebrates 20 years of trading at UK seaside resorts this summer.
To mark this milestone anniversary the company announces today that it wants to expand in a further 26 seaside and coastal town locations which include four locations in Wales.
Locations include: Tenby, Penarth, Pwllhelli and Aberystwyth. Collectively this quadruple Welsh coastal hotel openings programme represents an investment of £27million for third party investors and will create 100 new jobs across the country. It will also boost Travelodge’s portfolio in Wales to 31 hotels
Travelodge opened its first seaside hotel in Brighton in 1999 and has recently opened its 36th seaside resort hotel at Rhyl beach.
To mark this 20 year milestone anniversary, Travelodge, who operates 584 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain – is looking to grow its coastal hotel network with a further 26 properties in seaside resorts and coastal towns in the British Isles. This programme will offer the growing leisure traveller market more choice, greater value coastal holiday destinations and support local coastal economies with their regeneration plans.
This coastal expansion programme of 26 hotels collectively represents a potential investment of £165 million for third party investors and would create around 650 new jobs. Travelodge will open its first hotel in 20 of these locations.
The Travelodge coastal development target list stretches the length and breadth of the UK map and beyond. Starting from Lerwick, the capital of the Shetlands, going down and across to Pwllheli, in Wales, and then, down to Cornwall and beyond to Jersey and Guernsey. (See end of press release for the full list of 26 locations)
The group’s latest seaside hotel opening, Rhyl Seafront Travelodge, is the town’s first branded hotel to be located at the beach. It is also the company’s ninth Local Authorities development partnership.
Denbighshire County Council recognised that a hotel could play a leading role in the regeneration of Rhyl and actively sought this innovative partnership with Travelodge to help boost its local economy. The hotel has been built on Denbighshire County Council-owned land and forms part of a wider, council-led £25m regeneration programme along the Rhyl seafront.
Our Local Authorities development programme uses bespoke agreements with unique funding structures, all of which have enabled Local Authorities to utilise their existing assets, create jobs, generate income, and help to regenerate land in strategically important locations.
Travelodge hotels in this programme are built on surplus local authority land, with the funding provided either through the Local Authorities internal resource or via low-cost funding from the Public Works Loan Board or third party resources.
Upon completion of the hotel development, local authorities have the choice of either retaining ownership of the hotel and receiving an annual rent into the Council’s revenue budget or selling the hotel with Travelodge as its operator.
Rhyl Seafront Travelodge, a 69-sea view room hotel with on-site restaurant called the Bar Café and car-park represents an investment of £5 million for the landlord, Denbighshire County Council. The hotel has got off to a flying start, with room rates start from £29 and is set for a busy year ahead.
Tony O’ Brien, Travelodge UK Development Director said:
“We are seeing the rebirth of British seaside resorts and coastal towns as a result of Britons changing holiday habits. We are becoming a strong Staycation nation that likes to take lots of short breaks throughout the year rather than a traditional two week block holiday and Wales is benefitting from the this trend.”
“Wales is a key tourism magnet and is enjoying year on year growth. The £6 billion industry has great potential for further growth and we want to be a part of this. Therefore we are starting our search now and looking for hotel sites in new markets which include: Tenby, Penarth, Pwllhelli and Aberystwyth.
This quadruple expansion programme would represent an investment of £27 million for third party investors and create 100 new jobs and offer more choice and greater value to the modern leisure traveller. It will also support the local economy as our research shows on average our customers spend double their room rate with local businesses which annually results in a multimillion boost for the local economy.”
Tony continued:
“To kick start our expansion programme in Wales we are writing to the Local Authorities in Tenby, Penarth, Pwllhelli and Aberystwyth to see if we can play a pivotal role in their regeneration programmes like we have done in Rhyl. Investing in a low-cost hotel like Travelodge is an increasingly attractive choice, as it draws visitors, creates jobs and helps boost the local economy.”
The list below details the 26 seaside resort and coastal towns where Travelodge is looking to open a hotel:
- Aberystwyth
- Bognor Regis
- Bournemouth
- Bude
- Canterbury / Whistable
- Deal / Sandwich
- Eastbourne
- Falmouth
- Folkestone
- Guernsey
- Hove
- Jersey
- Lerwick
- Looe / Fowey
- Lowestoft
- Newquay
- Oban
- Penarth
- Penzance
- Pwllheli
- Shoreham-by-Sea
- St Ives
- Tenby
- Truro
- Western Super Mare
- Weymouth
This year, is set to be the strongest year for holidaying at home, according to the Travelodge 2019 Holiday Index. This summer, 69% of us are taking their annual summer holiday in the UK – this is an increase of 12% (57%) from 2018 with the average holiday being a week. Also Britons are spending more on their summer break this year with an average spend of £874. This is the highest spend since Travelodge started its annual holiday index in 2011 when the average spend was £399.28. Collectively Britons will boost the UK economy by £40 billion this year by holidaying on British shores this summer.
The report also revealed that over half of Britons at 58% have opted to holiday at home due to Brexit uncertainties and are showing their solidarity by supporting UK tourism and their economy.
Findings also revealed a growing trend in more Britons seeking value from their holiday time. In 2019, 45% of British holidaymakers (A five per cent increase from 2018) are taking a three location Summercation. This includes a beach, rural and city stopover as part of their week’s holiday. This is a cost effective way of creating three holidays for the price of one and also provides great content for social media news feeds.
Research also shows it’s the death of the traditional two week holiday as 85% of Britons are splitting the traditional two week annual holiday into a seven day block supported with three short breaks throughout the year. A traditional jaunt to the seaside remains a firm favourite with 45% of Britons flocking to the coast this summer. For the fifth consecutive year, Cornwall keeps its crown as the nation’s top holiday destination. In second place is Blackpool rising up the ranks from 15th position in 2018. Devon has slipped down to third position after previously holding the number two slot for several years.
