Travelodge has opened its first hotel in Dover, cementing its position of offering good quality, low-cost accommodation at the UK’s top ten busiest cruise ports.
Dover Travelodge, a purpose-built, 108-room hotel with Bar Café and on-site car-parking, represents a £9 million investment for the landlord; Legal & General, undertaken by Dover District council’s development partner Bond City, and has created 30 new jobs within the local community.
Travelodge Dover opens, as the hotel chain continues to look for locations around busy UK cruise ports.
The new hotel overlooks Dover Castle and is located minutes away from Dover’s cruise terminal.
The Port of Dover, an award-winning cruise port, is the UK’s second busiest and hosts some of the world’s most prestigious cruise liners.
At its 560th hotel opening in Dover, Travelodge announced it is looking for a further ten new hotel sites close to the UK’s busiest cruise ports in response to the growing cruise boom.
This expansion represents an investment of £60 million for third party investors and will create around 300 new jobs.
The ten Port locations include: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Harwich, Hull, Liverpool, Newcastle, Poole, Portsmouth, Southampton and Tilbury.
This expansion will boost Travelodge’s presence to 42 hotels at the busiest ferry and cruise ports across the UK.
According to the annual UK & Ireland cruise industry report, almost two million cruises were taken by British Holidaymakers in 2017.
This six per cent year on year increase is a record high of two million cruise passengers according to Cruise Lines International Association.
During the same period, Travelodge’s 32 hotels that are located within the vicinity of Britain’s busiest ports also experienced a significant increase in occupancy as a result of the record number of Britons taking to the waves.
Tony O’Brien, Travelodge property director, said: “Today is a double celebration for Travelodge.
“Not only have we opened our first hotel in Dover, but this opening also cements our presence at the UK’s top ten busiest cruise ship ports.
“With more Britons taking to the waves, our Port based hotels are also benefiting from holidaymakers stopping over before embarking on, and returning from, their voyage.”
Dover Travelodge has been styled in the company’s latest contemporary brand design.