Online shopping facility unveiled by Travelodge

Travelodge customers can now pre-order goods and services online in advance of their stay thanks to a £1m investment in the company’s website.

The budget hotel operator hopes the new initiative will drive revenue before customers arrive and double the number of My Travelodge customers to one million by the end of the year.

Travelodge customers can now reserve cots or pre-pay for breakfasts or a pet’s overnight stay while making their reservations through My Travelodge.

In time, they will also be able to buy tickets to events and attractions and, potentially, other goods that they can use during their visit.

“For now, we will be focusing on basics such as breakfast and evening meals in bar café sites,” said chief operating office Guy Parsons. “However this technology could enable us to retail anything from overnight cosmetics to best seller books.”

The Travelodge website currently generates five million reservations a year (80% of the total) and the group hopes the personalised shopping facility will double the number of My Travelodge customers to one million by the end of the year.

The group, which is opening 35 new hotels this year, has also announced a second year of price cuts that will again slash £20m off the cost of room rates during 2007.

This year, however, Travelodge will be offering 1.8 million rooms at the low rate of £26.15, compared with one million in 2006.

• Travelodge has shaved £2m off the cost of cleaning its 20,000 bedrooms by replacing 1,000 Henry vacuum cleaners with more powerful Vacleansa machines which save around one minute in time per bedroom.

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By Angela Frewin

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