Another hotel plan for town

8:31am Tuesday 22nd July 2008

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A national hotel chain wants to open a new site in Weymouth with more than 100 bedrooms.

Travelodge is the third operator to focus on the resort in the last week after the B+B Collection opened a property on the Esplanade and plans were announced for a Hilton Hotel as part of redevelopment work for the Pavilion and ferry terminal.

The latest hotel proposed by Travelodge could create up to 25 new jobs in the town and provide an annual boost to the local economy of more than £1.3 million.

Travelodge spokesman Nick Dines said Weymouth had been chosen as part of the company's £150 million national expansion plans to open 55 hotels in seaside resorts to capitalise on increasing numbers of people holidaying at home.

Mr Dines added that Travelodge was prepared to pay a big cash bounty to whoever helped it find a site for their new hotel and he said: "We feel that Weymouth is one of the coastal towns where we can do business.

"We don't currently have a site identified in the town for our hotel, so we want people to help us out by telling us about everything we might be able to use from vacant hotels to farm buildings such as barns or land which has previously been earmarked for residential use but the plans have fallen through or are no longer viable.

"If anyone does identify land we can use and we build our hotel there then they could be entitled to a bounty cash payment from us from £500 per bedroom built up to a maximum for the entire project of £150,000."

He said this would not apply if the caller owned the land as the company would have to negotiate a lease with them.

"Travelodge does not own any of its hotel sites. We only lease, so what we are looking to do in Weymouth would be to have a 25-year fixed period lease with rents renegotiated every five years to take inflation into account."

He added that a Travelodge would provide a boost for the Weymouth area with research showing that the average visitor spent £254 in the local economy.

He said Travelodge was building its no frills' new hotels, including one in Bournemouth, because soaring fuel costs and a weaker pound meant more people holidaying in the UK.

A Weymouth and Portland leisure and tourism spokesman said: "This company's interest in Weymouth is in line with the increasing amount of potential investment being channelled into the resort and the growing need to accommodate a variety of visitors all year round."