BUDGET hotel chain Travelodge plans to open 37 sites near to the UK’s 15 national parks.
The group, which has 475 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain, said the £135m expansion drive, which could create 500 jobs, was in response to high customer demand for hotels close to some of the top rural locations in Britain.
Its property team will focus efforts on finding sites near to locations such as Betws-y-Coed (Snowdonia), Grasmere (Lake District), Aviemore (Cairngorms) and Minehead (Exmoor). Chief executive Guy Parsons said more Britons were holidaying at home than ever before, and added: “Traditionally, Britons have opted for a coastal or city break but as more Britons explore the UK they are rediscovering new holiday hot-spots and, as a result, we have seen a significant surge in rural breaks.”
Travelodge said existing hotels in a wide radius of the main national parks achieved high occupancy levels far earlier than normal this year.
