Travelodge revenues get lift from UK staycation trend

Big growth in staycations has helped Travelodge achieve record third-quarter sales, the budget hotel chain has said.

The company, behind 593 hotels, said sales in the three months to September 30 reached £229.5 million, compared to £88.2 million a year earlier when travel restrictions severely hurt the leisure sector. The performance was better than the pre-Covid performance of £208.8 million.

Revenue per room stood at £53.54, an improvement on the two prior years.

Travelodge, owned by GoldenTree Asset Management, Avenue Capital and Goldman Sachs, secured a company voluntary arrangement last year, a move that helps agree rent cuts or closures.

The chain, which has sites in Ireland and Spain, but mostly in the UK, reported a significant increase in customer demand since summer, as travel restrictions and lockdowns eased.

Growth was led by domestic customers and improved business demand.

Hotel operators will be watching for any impact to bookings from the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Travelodge chief executive Craig Bonner said: “While we do continue to face uncertainty in the short term, we remain confident in the long-term prospects for budget hotels.”

Travelodge added that forecasting remains a challenge and “we expect the recovery will depend on several factors including the continued effectiveness of the vaccines, consumer and business behaviour and more broadly the general economic environment”.

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