Travelodge, one of the UK's fastest growing hotel chains, has announced that it has exchanged on 22 new hotels (2,198 rooms) across the UK at a combined investment value of £165 million.

As part of its new hotel exchange update, Travelodge has announced its new partnership with Arcadia Group Ltd, one of the UK's largest privately owned clothing retailer. Under this new scheme, Arcadia Group Ltd will forward fund the construction of a 96-room Travelodge hotel, above its Topshop store; in Edinburgh's retail heartland - Princes Street.

The famous grade ll listed building which houses Edinburgh's largest Topshop store and the forthcoming new Travelodge hotel was Scotland's very first steel frame building. The development is scheduled to open in summer 2012 and Travelodge has agreed a 35 year lease with Arcadia Group Ltd, which represents a £10 million investment. This new addition will increase Travelodge's room stock to 1,230 rooms and 13 hotels in the Scottish capital - maintaining its title of Edinburgh’s largest hotelier.

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Some of the other locations from the exchange announcement include: five London sites: Walthamstow, Enfield, Bethnal Green, Sutton and Southgate. As well as: Edinburgh Queen Street, Eastleigh, Loughborough, Sittingbourne, Bedford, Gatwick Airport, Darlington, Altrincham, Malvern, Aylesbury, Newquay, Woking, Glasgow Airport, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Lynn and Barcelona.

In addition, the Company has opened 18 hotels in the first half of 2011 and is currently building 43 hotels (4,280 rooms). Twenty one of these properties are anticipated to open before the end of this year.

Upon construction, these new sites will boost the Company's estate to 540 hotels and 39,957 rooms. These new hotel openings will also create 1,300 new jobs across the country.

This year Travelodge will also open five hotels in London and six just before the start of the Olympic Games in 2012.

Guy Parsons, Travelodge, Chief Executive said: "The strength of Travelodge's growth model has clearly been demonstrated, with the first six months of 2011 being the strongest in the Company’s history. We are not just exchanging contracts but most importantly finance is being secured upfront, to enable our developers to start on-site immediately. Everybody knows how difficult it is to obtain bank funding at the moment, so to have financed so many new schemes must be one of the biggest success stories of the UK property industry."

(CD/KMcA)