Partners spending time in a Travelodge is not unusual. What makes this story different is that it involves multiple participants, no locking of doors or drawing of curtains, and the length of stay is reportedly to be lasting until 2015.
Travelodge has announced a £100m commercial property expansion programme during this period, across a projected thirty-six sites in the UK, carried out in partnership with many of Britain’s largest pub companies: Greene King, JW Lees, Marston’s, Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) and JD Wetherspoon.
Travelodge already has its presence in fifteen bespoke pub/hotel developments with banks and other funders and they are reported to be keen to expand the concept. Enthusiasm is shared in the pub industry, which recognises the potential of providing hospitality at sites next to hotels.
With both parties committed to sharing resources on target locations, the link-up is expected to reduce the time it takes to find a suitable commercial property, or a site that can be built on, thereby accelerating further growth.
The news comes as many pub companies are reporting healthy sales figures, fuelled partly by diversification into the food sector.
Greene King reported that 39% of its total revenue comes from dining and Marston recently reported that 70% of its customers visit in order to eat. ‘Pubs now serve more than a billion meals each year,’ according to Brigid Simmonds, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association.
Greene King is seeking 200 pubs, pushing its commercial property portfolio up to 1,100 and Marston’s aims to top up its commercial property glass with forty-five additional pubs. In addition, JD Wetherspoon is seeking to add fifty sites to its commercial property cellar each year for the next decade and M&B intends to open fifty sites in 2011 and seventy hotels in 2012.
These figures mean that commercial property sites with the capacity to host combined hotel/pub developments are expected to be in high demand.
