Travelodge bounces back after slow start to 2022

Travelodge has said its 2022 trading has been ‘extremely encouraging’ despite a slow start to the year impacted by the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

The budget hotel chain said revenues in January were down 10% on 2019 due to the impact of government guidance.

Demand improved following the lifting of work from home advice on 26 January and by early February revenue was ahead of 2019 levels.

Travelodge said it expected ongoing leisure and ‘blue-collar’ business demand to offset a more gradual return of ‘white collar’ corporate customers this year.

The comments came as the group reported underlying revenue of £559.8m in 2021, which was down from £727.9m in 2019 but more than double the £284.4m reported in 2020.

Revenue per available room (revpar) was £33.05, down 21.5% on 2019 but up from £16.61 in 2020.

Travelodge's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) recovered to £81.1m in 2021 after the company posted a £74m loss in 2020. The chain posted EBITDA in £129.1m in 2019.

Travelodge chairman Martin Robinson said: “The budget hotel segment, whilst not immune from the broader economic uncertainty, has proven resilient and continues to recover ahead of the rest of the UK hotel market; and we believe that the opportunities to grow our business have never been more exciting.

“With our large, diversified network of hotels, strong brand, value proposition, and focus on domestic budget travel, we are well positioned to benefit in the anticipated recovery.”

Travelodge had a total network of 592 hotels and 44,084 rooms at the end of 2021.

The company expects to open six new UK leased hotels and one Irish franchise in 2022, with two opened so far.

Some 60 of its hotels will be upgraded to its new ‘budget-luxe’ design this year.

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