Budget hotels


Industry-wide expansion Travelodge chief executive Guy parsons is bullish about the future of his high profile company. The chain has recently opened its 501st hotel and is clear-sighted about its growth. “The budget sector is still under- represented in London, in relation to other domestic markets such as Birmingham and manchester, largely because of the lack of availability of sites in the capital,” says parsons. “Only 17 per cent of hotel rooms in London are budget rooms whereas in manchester and Birmingham that figure is about 28 per cent.”


But it’s not just central London that needs


more budget hotels, according to parsons. “We are focusing on city and town centres all over the country. corporates now want to stay in a budget hotel that is in the same location as a full-service hotel. i am talking about clapham, Bromley, Teddington and Altrincham, for example. We go where we know there is a need, and that is increasingly in a city centre or on a business park.” And there’s the rub. Budget hotels are


now to be found where you would normally find higher category properties and not in their traditional out-of-town sites. indeed,


the majority of hotels within parsons’ empire that he opened last year were city or town centre properties such as manchester, Birmingham, edinburgh, cardiff, Lancaster, Hull, Bristol, cambridge and High Wycombe. Whitbread’s premier inn is on a spending


spree too. With 600 hotels already operating in the UK, comprising some 46,000 rooms, the group plans to grow to 65,000 rooms within five years and it is eyeing the London market just as eagerly as Travelodge. The


Pictured: Intercontinental Hotels Group's Holiday Inn Express budget brand


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THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE 75


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