A MAJOR hotel chain has its eyes set on building a Travelodge on the outskirts of Porthmadog, it emerged this week. Already Travelodge Hotels Ltd has lodged a planning application with Gwynedd Council to build a three storey hotel of 51 rooms, plus parking and landscaping, within the town’s Penamser Business Park. The site earmarked for the proposed development is set within the business park, on vacant land between Gelli Rentals and Heritage Homes. It emerged over the weekend that Travelodge plans to create 10,000 jobs under a huge £3.5bn investment programme over the next decade, opening 40 new hotels every year until 2020, targeting a 10% share of the market. The main area for expansion is greater London, with hotels also set to open in Wales and Scotland. According to Travelodge’s property director Paul Harvey: “There is no doubt that the UK hotel industry will see a major phase of regeneration over the next decade. “The mid-market hotels are suffering from a severe identity crisis as they no longer offer real value to the customer.” Chief executive Grant Hearn was quoted over the weekend as saying that Travelodge expected to have around 20 million customers by the end of the expansion programme. The company’s aim is to more than double its present size and make the budget hotels group twice as large as market leader Premier Travel Inn. The company, owned by Dubai International Capital, plans to create 600 Travelodge hotels in Britain, a number of them in Wales, including Porthmadog. A Travelodge spokesman said: “We want to develop in Porthmadog, hopefully on the Penamser Business Park site, but it all depends whether planning permission is forthcoming. Until that happens we are unable to discuss the matter further. Naturally, the purchase of the Porthmadog site also depends on planning permission being granted.” The spokesman said a Travelodge development is currently taking place in Holyhead, and that in addition to Porthmadog the company is also targeting Aberystwyth. Tony O’Brien, Travelodge’s director of development said: “As part of our unprecedented growth drive in Wales, we are pledging to add around 1,500 rooms, approximately 15 hotels across the country by 2020. “One of our target locations is Porthmadog, due to its high number of leisure visitors and award winning beaches. “The acceleration of our growth plans is extremely exciting as it enables us to capitalise on the rise in both domestic and international visits to the UK. “As a management team we have a great deal of experience of opening many hotels each year and we have strengthened our property division further to achieve these new goals.” | 
