No vacancies on the Orkney Islands for budget hotel chain

THEY have often been voted one of the best places to live in the UK and attract more than 170,000 visitors a year.

But the Orkney Islands have snubbed an offer from one of the country’s biggest budget chains to help set up a hotel.

Council bosses claim that there are sufficient beds on the islands to support the peak tourism season and turned down a partnership offer from Travelodge to open a hotel in Kirkwall.

It proposed a partnership with Orkney Islands Council, which it claimed would help ‘regenerate local communities and unlock development potential’.

The company is targeting similar partnership arrangements with other local authorities, including in Aviemore, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow and St Andrews.

But the council told Travelodge that it is unwilling to get involved in a partnership to finance the construction of a hotel.

Council leader James Stockan said: ‘A proposal has been sent to us and we have replied to Travelodge to say that we are not in a position to become involved in a development of this kind.

‘The council works closely with VisitScotland and the Orkney tourism industry and recognises that the county has a very short peak summer season where accommodation providers experience full occupancy.

‘For this reason, the council’s current economic development policy on tourist accommodation does not support the development of significant additional bed space in Orkney.

‘Therefore, it would not be appropriate for the council to be involved in a partnership which conflicts with this existing policy.’

Travelodge declined to comment. The company recently announced plans to open 20 hotels in Scotland at a cost of £125million, creating up to 385 jobs.

The refusal will come as a blow to the company, which released a report in April showing that more than a third of Scots will spend their annual summer holiday in the Highlands and Islands,

According to the survey, Scotland is now a ‘staycation nation’, with 57 per cent of us planning to remain within Britain this summer, up from 55 per cent last year.

Travelodge has built similar hotels in partnership with 12 councils in England and Wales. Hotels in the scheme are built on surplus local authority land.

Upon completion of the hotel development, councils have the choice of either retaining ownership of the hotel and receiving an annual rent or selling the hotel with Travelodge as its operator.

Brian Wallace, Travelodge chairman previously said: ‘Many local authorities are in possession of large amounts of property and assets that are not being utilised.

‘Investing in a low-cost hotel like Travelodge is an increasingly attractive choice, as it draws visitors, creates jobs and helps boost the local economy.

‘We operate 44 hotels across Scotland. However, the country is growing at pace but there still remains a huge shortage of good quality and great value hotels.’

In April, the Orkney Islands were identified as Britain’s best rural place to live for the second year in a row.

‘Very short peak summer season’