A £223 million cash investment is being made in Travelodge this year to help expand the budget chain and refurbish rooms.
The development plans come after three investors – GoldenTree Asset Management, Avenue Capital Group and Goldman Sachs – took control of Travelodge following a restructuring under a Company Voluntary Arrangement last year.
Travelodge will open 14 hotels representing 1,742 rooms at a cost of £141.5 million. Twelve of the new properties will be in the UK and two in Spain.
The company expects to create 420 new jobs this year with 371 of the new positions being generated with the 14 new hotels. Other new opportunities will be created via a management apprenticeship programme which will create 30 new apprenticeship placements. The remaining 19 roles are head office based.
The UK locations include four properties in London (Bethnal Green, Hounslow, Vauxhall and Walthamstow), Liverpool, Cambridge, Aylesbury, Southport, Kings Lynn, Sittingbourne, Manchester and Chertsey.
The two Spanish hotels will double Travelodge’s room stock to 700 and increase the portfolio to six including three properties in Madrid, two in Barcelona and one in Valencia.
The first hotel is due to open in spring in the beach area of Poblenou in Barcelona. The new Madrid hotel is scheduled to open in the summer in the Julian Camarillo commercial district.
Travelodge is also spending more than £12 million in digital and online marketing as well as £1 million in a website revamp later this year.
A new room design has also been created, featuring a new king size bed, following a year of research and development .
All new hotels being opened this year will incorporate the new room features.
The first phase of a £57 million refurbishment programme from the spring will include a refit project to transform flagship and most popular city centre hotel rooms with the new design. More than 80% of Travelodge’s estate will incorporate the new room design by the autumn of 2014.
Chief executive Grant Hearn said: “In today’s world, Britons are looking for great value when making a hotel booking.
“The UK at less than 20% remains a growing market for branded budget accommodation, as it is still well behind matured markets such as the USA and France.
“In response to this growing opportunity, our growth strategy remains in the forefront of our new business plan.”