Wetherspoon moves into budget hotels

Pub group JD Wetherspoon has moved into the budget hotel market sector with the creation of Wetherlodge.

The group has invested £4m in the 22-bedroom Shrewsbury hotel in Shropshire, which opens next month and the Acorn, a 26-room pub-hotel in Glenrothes, Fife, due to open in November.

The hotels are to retain their existing names but will also be marked with the new Wetherlodge logo. Room prices will be £35 from Sunday to Thursday and £30 on Friday and Saturday.

While Wetherspoon has not ruled out further hotels under the Wetherlodge name, spokesman Eddie Gershon described analysts' comments that the company should seek diversification as "tosh".

"It's not a case of diversification. We are not moving into a Whitbread-Travelodge situation," he said.

The group plans to open 85 pubs a year, and while it may not actively seek out hotels, said Gershon, further premises with accommodation may be rebranded with the new logo.