Travelodge plans major expansion in Europe

Britain\'s second-biggest budget hotel group Travelodge will announce plans for a major expansion into Europe over the next few months, Chief Executive Guy Parsons said. The group, which is owned by Dubai International Capital, on Tuesday reported a 15 per cent rise in total sales in the 13 weeks to end-August. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) at hotels which have been open more than a year grew by 3 per cent. The group is looking to ramp up expansion across Europe, having set a long-term target to open 100 hotels in Spain, where it has already successfully opened four hotels. \"There are still big opportunities in a number of European countries. What Spain has proven to us is that the brand is completely transferable,\" Parsons said in an interview. We\'re actively working on what our European strategy looks like and we\'ll be able to announce that in the coming months,\" he added. Parsons declined to comment on what countries Travelodge will look to enter but analysts have suggested Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Italy would be suitable markets. \"The only country that is locked out for us at the moment is France. We\'d need to do some M&A activity to get into France but in the rest of continental Europe there\'s no really dominant player,\" he said. Travelodge, which operates 466 hotels in Britain, has set a long-term expansion target in the UK of 1,100 hotels and 100,000 rooms by 2013.