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Travelodge, the UK’s first branded budget hotel chain, has announced plans to double its presence in Suffolk amid the opening of its fourth hotel in Ipswich.
The group said it is actively looking for a further nine hotel sites in Suffolk which includes a fifth hotel site in Ipswich. This expansion programme could represent a multi-million investment for third party investors and create 225 new jobs.
Locations include Aldeburgh or Felixstowe, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Lowestoft, Martlesham, Newmarket, Southwold, Saxmundham and Sudbury.
For five of these towns it would be the first branded budget hotel which could greatly impact on their visitor numbers and boost the location economy.
The newly-opened Ipswich Central Travelodge is a 100-room hotel featuring the group’s new budget-luxe design. It has created 26 new jobs within the county. It is the group’s 598th Travelodge and seventh hotel in Suffolk.
The Travelodge budget-luxe design includes a number of sustainable initiatives, such as the new carpet being 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.
Steve Bennett, chief property and development officer, said: “We are delighted to open our fourth hotel in Ipswich and bring our new premium look and feel budget-luxe concept to the county. The hotel is ideally located for business and leisure travellers.
“It will also be very popular with Ipswich Town FC fans as we have rooms that overlook the stadium and our opening couldn’t have come at a better time with the club being promoted to the Championship.”
Bennett continued: “This hotel opening also kick-starts our Suffolk expansion programme as we would like to double our hotel portfolio in the county in response to growing leisure and business travellers visiting the area for holidays, events and for business.
“It is also good news for local economies as our research shows that Travelodge customers spend on average double their room rate with local businesses during their stay, which can equate to an annual multi-million boost for the town.”
