TRAVELODGE has reopened its two Chippenham Leigh Delamere hotels on the M4 motorway as part of a national programme designed to welcome back leisure customers from Monday May 17.

The hotel teams at Chippenham Leigh Delamere M4 (Eastbound and Westbound) have been working around the clock, so that they could open and get off to a flying start.

Bookings are already coming in from eager business travellers who are allowed to travel and stay

The budget hotel chain has also reopened six other Travelodge hotels at Amesbury Stonehenge, Melksham, Devizes, Swindon Central, Swindon West and Warminster.

The company says it wants to welcome back business and leisure travellers and kick start the local economy.

Huw Huckridge, Travelodge district manager for Wiltshire said: “We are very excited to reopen our Chippenham hotels today alongside our six other hotels in Wiltshire.

"We are hopeful that by reopening our hotels early we can help kick start the local economy.

"We are getting geared up for a busy summer as the Staycation is set to be big this year.

"Also, as we are the nation’s spare room provider, locals will be having lots of family and friends coming to visit this year and we will be hosting them.

"This is great news for the local economy as research shows, Travelodge customers will spend double their room rate with local businesses during their stay which can equate to a multi-million spend."

All eight Travelodge hotels in Wiltshire will feature the group’s Covid-19 safety programme called TravelodgeProtect+.

This programme of cleaning and social distancing measures in line with government guidance is designed to keep customers and teams save and protected.

Mr Huckridge added: “Our TravelodgeProtect+ programme is sitting in the heart of our business as we reopen to safeguard and protect customers and our teams.

"During this lockdown, Travelodge had over 300 hotels open from Plymouth to Elgin providing accommodation for key/critical workers, business travellers who were allowed to travel and stay over plus local authorities and supporting vulnerable groups.”

Travelodge also announced it was opening 17 new hotels across the UK in 2021, creating 360 new jobs.

These 17 new hotels are being developed by third party investors with an approximate investment value of £175 million.

It is expected that most of these 17 hotels will be open and trading in time for the summer season to enable more choice to customers.

As part of this expansion, Travelodge is rolling out more of its premium economy SuperRooms and adding more Travelodge PLUS hotels to its collection.