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.

Plans to transform Bow Street Magistrates Court and Police Station in Covent Garden, London, into a luxury hotel have been approved by Westminster City Council. The property is a Grade 2 listed building and has historical connections with Oscar Wilde.  The plans include an ‘interpretive centre’ which incorporates existing cell blocks as well as the preservation of court rooms as areas of the hotel with public access.

Travelodge has reported an increase in revenue generated by business travellers. The company has received greater demand for business bookings, as companies seek to reduce travel expenditure.

The former home of the Von Trapp family, made famous by The Sound of Music, is being redesigned as a hotel. There are no plans to make alterations to the building itself, only essentials such as painting and re-wiring. The Villa Trapp, on the outskirts of Salzburg, as well as the park surrounding the villa will be open to the public in July. Visitors will be able to sleep in the family’s former bedrooms and even get married in the chapel. It will cost around £80 a night to stay in the hotel.

Travelodge has announced it will be opening 22 new hotels across the UK before the end of the year, meaning one hotel will open every six working says, in an investment worth £125m. Locations include Heathrow Central, The Tower of London, Cardiff Atlantic Wharf and Edinburgh city Centre. Travelodge plans to grow its estate to 1,000 hotels by 2020 and aim to be the biggest operator in London by the 2012 Olympics. It currently has 350 hotels, 9 in Ireland, 3 in Spain and the rest in the UK and they employ 5,000 staff.

The Cleveland Way National Trail could soon see the introduction of a network of low cost, eco-friendly camping huts. The North York Moors National Park Authority has commissioned a feasibility study to examine the costs and potential benefits, as well as looking at the impacts and benefits to the surrounding area and local economy. The huts would fill an identified gap for good quality, low cost accommodation for families and groups.  There are already some in the UK but creating a network along the Cleveland Way where people can walk form one to the other is quite unique for this country. The huts could provide a boost to tourism in the area and encourage more people to walk the route.

Five tower blocks will be refurbished as part of a £10m revamp at the Colomendy outdoor activity centre, Denbighshire. The original building was built in 1939 to house evacuees from Liverpool.  As part of the makeover the buildings will undergo a £600,000 refurbishment to provide modern accommodation.

The centre is used by children from all over the UK, which also now has its own caving system and water sports lake. Liverpool Council have approved the activity centre’s modernization in 2005 and have paid for the project, helped by the Big Lottery Fund.   The refurbishment has to be finished by February 2009.

Hotels in Europe have started to drop their prices for this summer to avoid losing customers because of the weak pound and economic downturn. HotelConnect, an accommodation-only provider, has said that 50% of its hotels have reduced their prices by 10%-15% for July and August. This has occurred due to hotel occupancy levels dropping in European cities as holidaymakers opt for UK or non-eurozone destinations.