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By Michael MacLeod
DESPERATE hotel bosses have offered £50,000 to anyone who can find them a site for a new hotel.
Travelodge pitched up their Travelpod – as seen at T in the Park – in Edinburgh city centre today and locals were invited to drop in and suggest places for a new hotel.
If their nominated location is picked, and the company goes ahead and builds on the land, they will receive £500 for every room in the finished property.
Keen to cash in on the credit crunch, Travelodge are also trying to snap up any city-centre location feasible by talking to existing hoteliers who are on the verge of quitting the hotel business.
They’ve already taken on three properties in the capital and spent £3 million converting each into budget hotels.
Marketing boss Nick Dines, said: “Edinburgh is integral to our future growth plans and there is nothing like local knowledge.
“We are calling on anyone who knows of a site which would make a great location for a hotel to get in touch and potentially earn themselves a bounty of £500 a room.
“I would also encourage anyone who is interested to come down to Castle Street and see the Travelpod for themselves.
“There is an opportunity to win a free night in a Travelodge hotel and have a sneaky catnap”.
The glass-walled mobile hotel room was mooted as an alternative to tents at this summer’s T in the Park festival.
The pod is towed like a trailer on the back of a vehicle, but unlike a caravan, is an exact replica of a plush hotel room.
It also contains a luxury double bed, bedside lights, duvet, pillows, carpeted floors, window blinds, and dressing table with light, mirror and chair.
The pod is sealed in a clear glass box, measuring six metres by 2.4 metres, and is 2.6 metres high.
The chain’s bosses will be hoping for a site slightly bigger for their new capital venture.
