Wakemans checks out at Essex Travelodge

News
23/01/2018

A new, 74-room hotel with Bar Café in Essex is the latest project that national property and construction consultancy Wakemans has completed for Travelodge, the UK’s first budget hotel chain.

Thurrock Lakeside Travelodge is the first hotel to be opened at intu Lakeside shopping centre – also home to the forthcoming Nickelodeon fun park.

The purpose built, 74-room hotel with Bar Café and on-site car-parking has been designed in Travelodge’s new contemporary brand design and is situated overlooking Alexandra Lake at Lakeside shopping centre. Rooms are available from £29.

Wakemans acted as project manager for the hotel development, which represents an investment of £7 million for the landlord, Intu, and has created 21 new jobs.It is Travelodge’s 550th hotel.

To support local wildlife, duck houses have been sited on the lake and were provided by the UK’s largest independent hotel brand as part of the planning agreement.

Thurrock Lakeside Travelodge features the next generation of the company’s ‘Travelodgical’ contemporary room design. Together with the bespoke king size Travelodge Dreamer bed, this upgrade includes new bedside USB charging points, new softer LED ceiling lighting to give the room a warmer feel and a Samsung 32-inch digital television.

Wakemans Associate Director Nigel Himpson said: “Wakemans is proud to be one of Travelodge’s preferred suppliers offering a multi-disciplinary consultancy including project management, employer’s agent, cost consultancy and building surveying services along with broad experience of this type of scheme.

“We were pleased to support Travelodge on the development of the new Thurrock Lakeside hotel, which involved us in design and procurement decisions, dealing with the planning authorities, overseeing the budget and working with contractors throughout the lifecycle of the project.

Craig Bonnar, Travelodge, Chief Operating Officer said: “We are delighted to be the first hotel brand to open at intu Lakeside shopping centre. This new hotel is a great representation of how Travelodge has evolved as a brand. Thurrock Lakeside Travelodge will provide great value accommodation and help attract nationwide visitors to the shopping centre and to the new Nickelodeon fun park scheduled to open next year.

“Over the last three decades, Travelodge has become famous across the county for offering unbeatable value and making travel affordable for everyone, which has helped attract more business and leisure travellers to the area. As we look to the future, Essex remains a key growth area for Travelodge.

“Following our £2million investment in upgrading the customer experience and raising quality levels across our Essex hotels, we have seen a significant increase in sales; interestingly with more business customers staying in our hotels than ever before. However, there is still a shortage of good quality accommodation at a great value price. Therefore, to meet this growing consumer demand, we are looking for 11 new hotel sites across the county. This expansion represents an investment value of £88 million for third party investors and will create around 220 new jobs.”