Today, Peter Gowers, Travelodge Chief Executive was joined by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Naeem Ul Hassan and the President of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Phil Cusack, to officially open a new flagship Travelodge hotel, which is located in the heart of Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens district.The new 157-room hotel represents an £11 million investment, bringing the company’s portfolio to 16 hotels in Greater Manchester and 513 in total. The company is creating 31 new jobs with this latest opening.
The hotel is one of 15 new hotels that the brand will open this year, as part of a £100 million programme into extending the chain.
The hotel is designed in the new modern Travelodge look and feel, which was designed by customers. Every room features the king size Travelodge Dreamer bed, designed exclusively for Travelodge by royal warrant holders Sleepeezee, and the hotel also has a full service Bar Café, where customers can relax in comfortable surroundings and enjoy a drink from the bar or try out the dinner and breakfast menu.
The Manchester Piccadilly Travelodge hotel is part of a mixed scheme that secures the regeneration of the former Woolworths building, originally constructed in 1927. The development of the hotel has been led by Associated Property Investors (API). Travelodge occupies six floors of the building with the ground floor providing further restaurants and retail units.
In addition to this new flagship hotel, Travelodge is investing a further £2 million into the city with the refurbishment of ten of its existing hotels in its new brand look and feel – so that more customers can experience the new fresh, modern Travelodge in Greater Manchester. Seven properties have already been refurbished across the city at Manchester Arena, Trafford Park, Salford Quays, Upper Brook Street, Bury, Altrincham and Ashton under Lyne. Work will be starting in the coming months at hotels at Ancoats, Sportscity, and Oldham Travelodge.
To meet the growing demand from business and leisure visitors looking for good value accommodation whilst visiting Manchester, Travelodge has also announced that it is looking for new sites across the city to build more Travelodge hotels.
Peter Gowers, Travelodge Chief Executive said: “We are delighted to open our new Manchester flagship hotel in the heart of the city centre at Piccadilly Gardens. This extends our network of city centre properties and marks another step on our journey to build a new Travelodge that is Britain’s favourite hotel for value.
Travelodge opened its first hotel in Manchester in 1987 and during the last 27 years, the UK’s first budget hotel brand has invested £75 million into the city with the opening of 16 hotels, creating 315 jobs.
Travelodge continued its investment in the city throughout the economic downturn, investing £43.6 million into five new hotels since 2007, doubling its room stock from 790 in 2007 to 1,498 today.
Manchester Piccadilly Travelodge is being managed by Lisa Readett, who has been working for the company within the Manchester area for the last nine years. Lisa started her Travelodge career as a supervisor at Manchester Sportcity and was appointed as an assistant hotel manager within a year. She has since managed hotels at Manchester Ancoats and Manchester Central, and has now been given the keys to this Manchester flagship hotel to manage.
Lisa’s team of 30 staff members have all been recruited via Travelodge’s partnership with the Job Centre Plus Scheme – which helps the long term unemployed back into work. (Travelodge received 1,000 applications from local residents to join the new hotel team at Piccadilly Gardens).
