Budget hotel chain Travelodge, which operates nearly 600 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain, has officially opened its sixth hotel in Spain - in Coslada, Madrid.
Travelodge signed a 20 year lease of the former NH Villa De Coslada, Madrid and has since refurbished and rebranded the 78-room hotel to become the Travelodge Madrid Coslada Aeropuerto, which features an on-site restaurant, bar and car-park.
Travelodge has invested €1 mln in updating the hotel to Travelodge’s latest look and feel. The hotel is situated close to the Civitas Metropolitano Stadium, IFEMA Convention Center and Madrid airport.
The hotel is the group's third Madrid property. It also operates two hotels in Barcelona and one in Valencia.
Travelodge has worked closely with a consultancy team at Christie & Co on a report exploring the development opportunities offered by the Spanish hotel market.
Findings from this report confirm that despite Spain being a top global leisure and business destination, it remains an under-represented market for budget accommodation, with economy and midscale hotel rooms representing 33% of total room supply in comparison to mature markets including France (59%), the UK (41%) and the USA (44%).
Meanwhile, just 6% of Spain’s hotel rooms are in the branded economy and midscale segment.
The study identified the potential for an additional 15,000 branded rooms in the economy and midscale segment of the Spanish hotel market within the next five years, through a combination of new developments and conversions of existing hotels.
Working with its appointed property agents, Aldaba Partners, Travelodge has initially identified the top 20 key markets where it would like to open a hotel in Spain.
Travelodge’s plans include expanding its existing hotel network in the locations where it currently operates including Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, as well as in other major business and tourist locations such as Alicante, Bilbao, Cádiz, Malaga, Palma Mallorca, San Sebastián and Seville.
The firm's Spanish operation is managed by Angel Beleno, who joined Travelodge in 2013 as Spain, director of operations and in 2014 was promoted to Spain, general director.
Said Beleño: 'Spain is the fourth most visited country in the world and its tourism industry is now an important engine of the Spanish economy. This is creating new opportunities in the Spanish hotel market, especially for the midscale and economy hotel sector, and we want to take this opportunity to bring the Travelodge brand to new business and leisure locations across Spain.'
