Travelodge buys four star Mercure Hotel

24th May 2011, 10:33am

Travelodge and PRUPIM have acquired the former four star Mercure London Gatwick Airport hotel for an undisclosed sum.

The 257 room property will undergo a refurbishment and expansion programme to convert the hotel in line with the Travelodge brand.

This investment will include refurbishing the rooms and updating the reception area alongside the conversion of the hotel's 11 meeting rooms, three restaurants, swimming pool and gymnasium into additional rooms increasing, subject to gaining normal approvals, the room total up to 400 beds. The hotel will continue to trade as usual whilst the work is carried out.

Since the start of the recession, Travelodge has taken over 66 existing hotel businesses (3,245 rooms). The deal will boost the company's portfolio to 470 hotels and 33,204 rooms.

Guy Parsons, chief executive officer of Travelodge, said: "We are delighted to have acquired the Mercure hotel. It's a great addition to the Travelodge estate. We have been looking for some time to increase the number of rooms we have at Gatwick, to match our offering at Heathrow airport.

"Finding the perfect site close to the airport with adequate rooms has been a tough challenge but I am delighted that we are able to add this fantastic hotel to our brand. With this deal we have tripled our room stock at the airport but there is still a huge potential to grow further at the UK's second largest airport and we are looking for more new sites."

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