National hotels chain Travelodge acquires portfolio of 11 hotels including one located on Liverpool waterfront. Tony McDonough reports
A hotel on Liverpool waterfront has been acquired by national chain Travelodge.
In a deal announced on Tuesday, Travelodge said it had agreed to acquire the Hotel Campanile chain of 11 hotels. Locations include Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Swindon.
Located in Queens Dock and facing onto Wapping just south of the city centre, the Campanile Liverpool is close to ACC Liverpool which includes the M&S Bank Arena and Exhibition Centre Liverpool.
Travelodge operates more than 600 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain. This latest acquisition will take the number of UK hotels to 599. These 11 hotels offer a total of 951 rooms. It currently has three hotels in Liverpool city centre with a fourth at Brunswick south of the city centre.
In January LBN revealed Liverpool city centre hotels saw a record number of room bookings in 2024 and smashed through the 2m barrier for the first time ever.
In total, 2,037,360 rooms were sold. It compares to 1,975,000 in 2023 and 1,873,000 in 2022. Figures are from Liverpool City Council and this rise coincides with the increase in capacity.
There are now more than 85 hotels in Liverpool city centre with more in the pipeline. Prior to Liverpool’s Capital of Culture years in 2008 there were only around 2,000 rooms. Now that figure is close to 10,000.
In March it was announced that hotels and serviced accommodation providers in and around the city centre would vote on whether the city should introduce a £2 a night levy on visitors to Liverpool.
This ballot, organised by Liverpool’s Accommodation BID, runs until Thursday, April 24. If the vote goes in favour of the levy then it will come into force on June 1 and last until 2027. It could raise around £6m a year to support major events.
Speaking about the Campanile deal, Travelodge’s chief property and development officer, Steve Bennett, said: “The acquisition of these hotels marks another positive step in our UK development strategy.
“There are still many locations throughout the UK and Spain where we can open a new Travelodge hotel, to provide great value and quality accommodation.
“Acquisitions of properties which can be rebranded to Travelodge are a key part of our development strategy, as we look to continue to grow our footprint.”
