Travelodge invests £18.5m in two new Edinburgh hotels
Travelodge has opened two hotels in Edinburgh, one in conjunction with the UK's largest privately owned clothing retailer, the Arcadia Group.
The 96-bedroom, four-storey Travelodge hotel above Edinburgh's largest Topshop store on Princes Street represents an investment of £10m. It is located in a Grade II-listed building, as is the second new Travelodge for the city, a 85-bedroom property on Queens Street, costing £8.5m.
The two new hotels have increased the number of Travelodge hotels in Edinburgh to 13, with the company's total estate now standing at 508. Travelodge, which has appointed 40 staff in opening the two new hotels and is selling rooms from £19, is the largest hotel group in the city.
Travelodge managing director Paul Harvey, who was joined by Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, to officially open both hotels, said: "With over 16 million people annually visiting Scotland, good-quality, low-cost accommodation is in great demand and our objective now is to grow our properties in other key areas across Scotland. To fulfil this need we are working with our retained property agents Sandy Cameron & Co to find new sites."
"This autumn we are opening a 60-bedroom hotel in Fort William and I am delighted to announce that we have just exchanged on a new property in Glasgow city centre."
Roughead said: "Investment in Scotland's tourism industry is key to Scotland's future. There are almost £2b-worth of projects under way to improve tourism infrastructure across the country and Travelodge's investment is another welcome addition to this."
A further 39 Travelodge hotels are scheduled to open across the UK this year.
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By Janet Harmer
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