Our agency department is pleased to announce that we are acting as a main agent on behalf of this luxury holiday home development in Westward Ho!  If you would like to findout more about this opportunity please download the brochure here.  To find out more please contact Kevin Brown – consulting@pslplan.co.uk or call 023 9248 1999

Silver Tear Campers – something a little bit different from the USA.   The Silver Tear Campers offers a luxury experience for people who don’t want to purchase a traditional caravan.  The tear drop campers are constructed out of Ash and Mahogany. Visit their website.

Something a little bit different. Ekopod, in Cornwall, offers a great holiday experience where guests stay in a luxury ‘ekopod’ which includes a wood burning stove, kitchen area and bathroom! Guests can also enjoy breakfast and evening meals onsite.  They will pick you up from the local train station too!

Find out more Ekopod.

Premier Inn is to build a 267 bedroom, £25m hotel in Stratford, East London.  It will be part of the Westfield Stratford City Development , next to the Olympic Stadium.

Hotel profitability dropped by 11.4% across the country in 2009 according to TRI Hospitality Consulting in their annual report.

Premier Inn is due to add five new hotels to its portfolio.  The new sites include a 75 bedroom hotel and Beefeater in Newmarket, a 122 bedroom hotel at Worcestershire County Cricket Club, a 121 bedroom hotel in the Medway Leisure Park in Rochester, a 155 bedroom hotel in Southampton and a 62 bedroom hotel and Table Table restaurant at the Newton Abbot Jockey Club.   It is expected that the first site will open in 2010-11 and the final one complete by 2014.

A Tokyo style ‘pod-hotel’ is set to open in London’s famous Trocadero centre. Planning permission has been granted for a 495 room hotel, with some rooms as small as 12sq m.

Some background reading: Model Standards 2008 for Caravan Sites in England: Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 – Section 5

Britons who are remaining in the UK for their holidays have helped Hoseasons boost its annual pre-tax profits by almost £1 million. They saw profits rise to £3.13m in the year ending 31 October 2008.   Strong sales of upmarket park lodge accommodation and new city-break apartments has also helped boots numbers. The company has added around 10% more capacity in cottages and lodges to provide more accommodation for next year. Around one fifth of customers are new as a result of the popularity of the UK this year.

Plans put forward by Development Securities for a new 155 bedroom hotel, to be constructed at the West Quay site in Southampton, have been accepted by the local authority. As well as a hotel it will include a 60,000 sq ft office building. Work is expected to get underway in early 2010, with a lease agreement already secured with Premier Inn to operate the new hotel.

VW Leisure have revealed plans to build a £15m eco-friendly leisure and holiday park at the site of a former sand and gravel quarry in West Lothian.  The 72 acre site will be built around 2 artificial lakes and includes 33 log cabins, water sport facilities, children’s play area and a park lodge with a restaurant.  The development will feature a number of eco-friendly measures, including a wind-powered main electricity supply and geo-thermal heating system.
The park will be designed to appeal to families living locally.

Motorway services operator Welcome Break has added three new hotels to its portfolio. They have taken over three former Purple Hotels properties, which ceased trading in March 2009. The properties are in Peterborough, Cambridge and Stevenage, with a combined total of 216 bedrooms.

Plans for the first £50m five star hotel in the Scottish borders, have been given the go ahead.  Rutherford Castle Hotel will be built near the Rutherford Castle Golf Club, a par 72 championship course, and will feature 150 bedrooms and to be operated by De Vere.  The hotel will also feature a spa and leisure club, cafes, a ‘whiskey lounge’, a ballroom and conference facilities, open to the public as well as hotel residents.  Construction is expected to begin early 2009.

Something a little different on the Isle of Wight – a move away from the traditional caravan to retro-Airstream caravans.

It’s interesting to see how caravanning and camping (for example, Feather Down Farm Days) holidays are becoming cool and hip.

A designer is attempting to move caravanning into the 21st century with plans for high-tech pods, which can be towed behind cars.

The pods are collapsible, filled with gadgets and aim to dispel the perception of caravanning as a drab, damp hobby for the middle aged. The pods fold away to fit standard car parking spaces and are light enough to be towed by the smallest of cars. The interior is split into 2 pods, one seats or sleeps 2 adults, whilst the other holds a water system, power supply and storage space.

Travelodge has announced plans to build 55 new hotels at seaside locations around the UK, in some of the most under-invested UK resorts to help boost seaside tourism.

They aim to open a new hotel each month until 2015, creating 1,000 new jobs. Locations include Blackpool, Weymouth, Newquay, Bournemouth and Scarborough within the next year.

The investment in these areas will create a marked change to the fortunes of these economies. As Travelodge hotels are ‘no frills’ the customers will spend holiday cash in the local community.
The plans coincide with a new campaign to reinvigorate the British seaside. Travelodge will be joining with leading holiday companies and visitor attraction operators to offer major discounts on accommodation, travel and attractions.

The construction of a new 80 bedroom hotel as part of a £100m development at St Mellion International Resort, Cornwall, has begun. The main structure is due for completion at the end of September. Work is also expected to begin soon on the conversion of the Hamilton Suite into a new golf retail outlet, golf reception and conference room. There will also be refurbishment of the bar and a new brassiere by the end of the year. Crown Golf, who owns the resort, expects all work to be complete by April 2009.

The first phase of the project included refurbishment of the gym, reception and spa facilities, which has already been completed. Improvements have also been made to the golf course.

Travelodge and Aldi have announed a joint plan to capitalise on development opportunities created by the credit crunch. They plan to open joint sites in Newquay and Middlesbrough by the end of 2009.  The 55 room Middlesbrough Travelodge will open at the end of November 2008, alongside a 16,700sq ft Aldi.