Travelodge buys Gatwick hotel
Travelodge has bought the former four-star Mercure London Gatwick Airport hotel.
The 257-room hotel will undergo a significant refurbishment and expansion programme to bring it in line with the budget brand.
Travelodge will refurbish the existing rooms and get rid of the hotel’s 11 meeting rooms, three restaurants, swimming pool and gymnasium, turning them into another 146 rooms.
Guy Parsons, Travelodge CEO said: “We have been looking for some time to increase the number of rooms we have at Gatwick, to match our offering at Heathrow airport.
“Finding the perfect site close to the airport with adequate rooms has been a tough challenge but I am delighted that we are able to add this fantastic hotel to our brand.
“With this deal we have tripled our room stock at the airport but there is still a huge potential to grow further at the UK’s second largest airport and we are looking for more new sites.
“With competitive property prices, we expect to continue to grow by acquiring midmarket hotels, convert office blocks and invest in co-partnerships with pub companies.”
Since the start of the recession, Travelodge has taken over 66 existing hotel businesses, or 3,245 rooms.
This latest deal will boost the company’s portfolio to 470 hotels and 33,204 rooms.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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