The number of hotel bedrooms in Edinburgh has risen by 25 per cent since the millennium as the capital reels in four million tourists per year. The expansion shows no signs of slowing, with Glasgow-based Chardon and Canadian operator Future Inns among the latest to announce projects.
Chardon is investing £9m in the design-and-build of a limited service Express by Holiday Inn due to open next month near the Royal Mile, with 78 air-conditioned, en-suite rooms priced at around £70 including breakfast. Free internet access caters for both corporate and leisure markets.
In another move, agent DTZ is working with Future Inns UK to find a minimum half-acre site for a 150-bedroom hotel targeted for completion within two years. The Future Inns concept was established in Nova Scotia in the 1980s and the firm moved into the UK in 2003. Property director Graham Stockman said the capital project would represent an investment of £15m-£20m.
Chris Dougray of DTZ said the firm already had footholds in Cardiff, Plymouth and Bristol, providing comfortable value-for-money rooms, and was interested in newbuild and the redevelopment of existing properties. A total of around 100 new jobs will be created by the two projects.
VisitScotland's area director Ben Carter said: "With Edinburgh's hotel occupancy levels already among the highest in the UK, and growing demand for visitor accommodation, it is encouraging to see continued investment in the city's hotel sector, a key factor in reaching the industry ambition to grow tourism revenue by 50 per cent by 2015." This would require an additional 4000 rooms.
In other moves, Scottish businessman Lord Laidlaw has teamed up with north-east of England-based Rokeby Developments in a £70m joint venture to build two new hotels at Heathrow.
The pair believe they have spotted an under-provision of hotels adjacent to the new £4-bn Terminal 5 opening in March, and have merged adjoining land holdings to create a three-acre site close to an Abbey business centre owned by Lord Laidlaw.
A total of 600 new hotel rooms are being provided, but so far no operators have been named.
