News that Ab Rogers is designing a new room design concept for Travelodge is proof, if it were needed, of the increasing sophistication and activity in the booming budget hotel market.

This area is one of the few winners of the fallout from the prolonged economic gloom, offering value for money that appeals to both cash-strapped private travellers and business travellers needing to justify every penny of their expenses.

Compared with the USA and elsewhere in Europe, UK budget hotels have historically accounted for a relatively small chunk of the sector. According to hospitality specialist TRI Hospitality Consulting, while budget hotels represent approximately 21 per cent of the sector, they account for 33 per cent of all those in the pipeline and 65 per cent of those in construction, reflecting the reality that developers find it far easier to raise money for limited rather than full-service hotels in the present economic climate.

But this growth easily predates the recession, and is part of a huge, decade-long boom in the hotel sector, particularly in London, which has seen sustained growth in room provision, from the ultra luxury of The Savoy and the Corinthia right down to the £20 bed, shower and nothing-much-else-unless-you-pay-extra-for-it model.

The budget end has carved out a larger niche by venturing into seaside areas previously the domain of B&Bs, and by prominent advertising and heavy price promotion. This, according to TRI deputy managing director David J Bailey, stimulated leisure demand in a new market such as ‘white-van man’ who wouldn’t normally consider staying in a hotel.

‘The market is maturing and we will be getting close to that point where the market will become saturated, although we’re not there yet,’ says Bailey, who expects increasing segmentation in this part of the market. ‘There’s certainly scope for more innovation to come.’

Yet the term ‘budget’ is a misleading and relative term. Talk to anyone in that part of the market and they’ll say they prefer the terms ‘affordable’,’at the value end’, or ‘limited service’ rather than a definition of price. And while this does include the ultra low-priced, sometimes windowless room offered by easyHotels and others, it also includes brands such as Hampton by Hilton and Holiday Inn Express where, depending on demand and location, you can easily be paying £100+ a night, helping to push up average price in the sector to £50.33 (2010, HotStats and Hotel Analyst). Throw affordable luxury into the mix in the form of citizenM, the Dutch brand soon coming to London, and you get an idea of quite how broad the budget/affordable market is.

Location is, as ever, massively important for hoteliers, and right now London, a popular international travel destination made more affordable by the depreciation of sterling, is a desirable location for foreign brands to target.

As well as citizenM, the Malaysian-owned chain Tune is among several overseas chains venturing or looking to get into the UK market. There are also home-grown brands, such as new venture umi.

‘There are a lot of brands that want to come into London,’ says Dexter Moren, whose architecture and design practice Dexter Moren Associates is working with several brands hoping to establish themselves in the capital as well as many of the established affordable chains. Yet the big players in terms of room numbers remain Travelodge and Premier Inn, which between them have more than half the market share, followed by Holiday Inn Express, and have both announced further expansion plans. Travelodge aims to have 1,000 hotels in the UK by 2020.

With their fixed room concepts and service offers, budget hotels can present a consistency that old-style B&Bs lacked, says Moren, though this also means less design individuality and often a limited street presence, with hotels often located above retail units. ‘In this sector, the brand is quite specific in terms of room design so there isn’t scope for interior designers to change that. The only area with more design impact is the public areas,’ says Moren.

Budget travellers won’t want to pay extra for high design and will be primarily concerned with a good bed, shower and convenient location. But in a busy and increasingly crowded market, design can be an important differential.

And with the economy showing no signs of a fast recovery, maybe more of those in the affordable market will, like Travelodge, look to quality designers to make their product not only cheap and cheerful but desirable too in the face of increasing competition for the travellers’ pound.

Case Study 1
Citizenm
Design by Concrete Architectural Associates
Is there such a thing as affordable luxury? citizenM, the Dutch brand planning opening three new hotels in London, thinks so.

It dipped its toe into the UK market in Glasgow, where rooms in the 198-bed hotel are priced £49-£139. Not exactly rock bottom but very cheap for the high-design aesthetic that comes with it: Vitra, no less, is official furniture partner for the brand, which is specifically aimed at people who value modern design.

The designers responsible for this concept are from Concrete Architectural Associates, the Amsterdam-based company also responsible for the interior of the design-award-winning W London in Leicester Square.

The citizenM philosophy is affordable luxury for the people, it says, with low pricing yet ‘a perfect bed, brilliant shower, and a great lobby where you can mingle if you want to’. Rooms include a super-king-size bed, free wi-fi, wall-to-wall window, desk, global plug system, luxury linen for bed and bath, and electronic window blinds. Technology is an important part of the offer. Receptions have automated checkins that give guests a key card when they input their name and email address, although ‘ambassadors’ are always on hand to help. In the room, mood pads developed with Philips allow the guest to control everything from lights to sounds.

Unlike many budget brands, citizenM offers a 24-hour cafeteria and appealing lobby. The Glasgow citizenM also features societyM, a club room with meeting and screening facilities, which opened last June. This includes furniture by Vitra, Tom Dixon and Satelliet, pendant lighting by Moooi and Tom Dixon and printed carpets by Concrete Architectural Designs.

citizenM’s forthcoming London hotels include new-builds at Bankside and Tower Hill, all factory built except for the lobbies. These are part of a 20-hotel roll-out in Europe and New York.

Case Study 2
Umi
Design by James Burell
Among the big players are smaller outfits such as new hotel group umi, which hopes to open five more UK units by the end of the year by linking up in partnership with hotels keen to taken on the umi brand.

‘When I created the umi brand I felt a lot of the budget brands were just about price. For us, it’s about the service that goes with it,’ says umi founder Steve Lowry, who says umi staff will offer friendly and
knowledgeable service.

He feels that is more important now that people spend so much of their time interacting with technology. ‘Some of our guests many not have spoken to someone face-to-face all day. So when they are spoken to, they are far more aware of what is good and bad service,’ he says.

umi hotels will offer rooms, the umi brand and booking system but with flavour of their location by working with local design students and artists so that hoteliers can put their individual stamp on the property. In Brighton, for example, the rooms have quotations written on the walls.

‘A lot of big-brand hotels all look the same. We want to be fun. You can create a brand through service and touchpoints – we’re talking to a scent company about having a scent for a umi hotel as you walk in.’

umi is currently working with architect James Burrell on concept designs for a new London hotel to add to its first venture in the capital, a 117-room site in Notting Hill.

Case Study 3
Tune
Design by GTA Associates & Occa
Malaysian-owned Tune Hotels has recently entered the UK market, offering value accommodation with – like many in this sector – an online, airline-style booking system with the cheapest prices to those who book early.

It has worked with GTA Associates for its global design but has commissioned Edinburgh-based hotel specialist Occa to tweak its product to suit the local market while staying true to its core five principles of ‘5* bed, Power Shower, good location, cleanliness, and 24-hour security’.

‘It’s vibrant and young. You’re not paying much money but you feel that you’re getting more. It almost goes a step above budget,’ says Wendy Clark, studio director of Occa. ‘We’ve slightly modernised the Malaysian version. This had a wall-art mural in every room but we’ve created a feature wallcovering with a digital print and specified Amtico flooring throughout the bedrooms. It’s very fresh, bright and light – a fun brand."

Occa also modified the fold-down desks in the 11 sq m bedrooms, which all have free-standing beds, an open hanging unit with shelf and mirror, and a bedside table in glass. TV, air conditioning, wi-fi and towels are optional and available at an extra charge. In the public areas Occa focuses on the Tune redo, creating a contemporary, sweeping reception desk in red Corian on a Porcelanosa-tiled lobby.

The next Tune opens shortly at Paddington.

‘Our approach is simple, a single design for our rooms that can either be replicated for consistency globally or altered slightly to fit compliance or culture locally,’ says a Tune spokeswoman.

Case Study 4
Premier inn
Design by RDD and others
Premier Inn’s owner Whitbread plans to increase its number of hotel rooms by nearly 50 per cent in the next five years. Its priorities are consistency of quality, value and location, with hotels aimed at both leisure and business travellers alike.

‘The look we aim to achieve with Premier Inn is one that is modern and contemporary and portrays what a superior budget-hotel brand should offer its customers,’ says Whitbread product manager Sarah Simpson. Durability is also important, and Whitbread has also been introducing lo-flo shower heads and low-energy light bulbs to reduce energy consumption. It works with external designers, including RDD.

‘We have a regular refurb programme so new elements that can be easily installed. Such as paint colours, curtains and carpet are often introduced into our rooms throughout this cycle, but larger items such as furniture are replaced on a less frequent basis, so a key element of the design process is ensuring that these items can stand the test of time and not look dated,’ says Simpson. One of the newest Premier Inn locations is Stratford, East London – a 267-bed hotel at the Westfield shopping centre.