Travelodge opens its 79th London hotel in Wimbledon

Travelodge, one of the UK’s largest hotel brands, announces it has officially opened its third new-build budget luxe hotel in the heart of Wimbledon. With this opening, the group now operates 596 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain.    

Wimbledon Travelodge is the group’s 79th hotel in the Capital, positioning Travelodge as one of London’s biggest hotel chains (With hotels in 31 out of the 33 London Boroughs).  This hotel is also the company’s sixth new hotel opening this year and its third in London. 

At the hotel opening ceremony the group announced that London is a key growth area for Travelodge’s development strategy. A dedicated team is in place to search for a further 127 suitable sites across the Capital for a Travelodge hotel. This expansion programme would more than double Travelodge’s presence in London (Travelodge currently operates 79 hotels and is searching for 127 hotel sites this equates to 206 hotels)  and could represent an investment of nearly £3 billion for third party investors and create over 6,000 new jobs.

To kick start this expansion programme Travelodge has secured four hotel deals already with hotels in development across London in Beckenham, Bermondsey, Chiswick and Peckham. These four hotels represent an investment of approximately £55 million pounds for third party investors and will create around 150 new jobs. 

All four hotels are centrally located, close to tube and railway stations.  Beckenham, Bermondsey and Chiswick Travelodge hotels will feature the group’s on-site restaurant called the Bar Cafe and dedicated SuperRoom floors. (SuperRooms are the group’s popular premium economy rooms).

Earlier this year, Travelodge announced it was evolving its core brand product to a new budget-luxe premium look and feel design – whilst maintaining its great value price proposition. This new design has been created on the success of the group’s budget chic hotel format, TravelodgePLUS with feedback from the company’s largest consumer study – which surveyed around 5,000 UK business and leisure travellers to find the psychographics of the modern budget traveller. Key findings revealed that modern travellers crave style, choice and little homely touches to make it easier to work, rest and relax both inside and outside of the room. (See notes to editors for further information on the budget luxe features) 

London Wimbledon Central Travelodge was officially opened by MP Stephen Hammond, the  Mayor of Merton,  Joan Henry and Karen Broughton, Travelodge Chief Marketing & Sales Director. The  177-room hotel is the company’s third new build budget luxe hotel and features SuperRooms, the new core budget luxe room and an on-site restaurant called the Bar Cafe. It is located off the High Street, just a few minutes walk from the  station.  It is a sustainable Travelodge hotel with a BREEAM Excellent rating, an Energy Performance Certificate rating of A and a number of sustainable features which includes: carpet made from recycled fishing nets which are part of a project supporting clean ocean initiatives, tackling over 640k tonnes of discarded fishing nets currently impacting marine life. The carpet backing is also made of old plastic bottles. Every ten of these bottles which are recycled rather than being sent to landfill saves enough energy to power a laptop for 25 hours.  The other features include low energy lighting, motion sensing controls and aerated showers and taps. As well as Air Source heat pumps designed to maximise efficiency in the room heating & cooling system. A green roof top to attract wildlife and assist with drainage.

This hotel is also the group’s 24th Local Authorities wrapper deal partnership with the landlord being Three Rivers District Council.

Karen Broughton, Travelodge Chief Sales & Marketing officer said: “We are delighted to open our third new-build budget luxe hotel in the heart of Wimbledon.  This opening now boosts our portfolio to 596 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain.  It also kickstarts our London expansion programme with the  aim to more than double Travelodge’s presence across the Capital.   

Today, more Britons are choosing to stay in a budget hotel than any other hotel type and due to this rising demand, there is a shortage of good quality and low cost accommodation across London. To help fill this growing gap, we are actively  searching for a further 127 hotel sites, and we are delighted to announce that we have already secured four hotel deals. These hotels are in development and on schedule to open in 2023.   This London expansion programme could collectively represent an investment of over £3 billion for third party investors and create around 6,000 new jobs.”