BUDGET hotel chain Travelodge is to give its Basingstoke premises a £230,000 makeover.

Work is set to start in April at the 44-bedroom hotel behind the Stag & Hounds Harvester pub, in Winchester Road, and is part of a £100million company-wide programme designed to grow the business and strengthen its brand.

Employing 10 people, the Basingstoke hotel, which opened in 1989, will be completely fitted out in a new modern, fresh Travelodge design.

This includes a new room design with a bespoke luxury king size bed called the Travelodge Dreamer – which, according to Travelodge, is deemed by the industry to be the Rolls-Royce of beds and is usually found in luxury hotels.

The new-look room will also feature a sleep-inducing colour palette in tranquil blue and cream, as well as stylish swoosh stripes on the curtains and bed runner. Other additions in the new Travelodge room will include a larger desk, new carpet, artwork above the bed and a stylish white contemporary en-suite bathroom.

The hotel chain is also planning to open 15 new hotels and create 1,000 new jobs this year. These new properties will boost the Travelodge estate to 514 hotels and more than 39,000 rooms.

Travelodge chief executive Peter Gowers said: “This year marks the next stage on our journey to build a new Travelodge that is Britain’s favourite hotel for value.

“During the last year, we modernised more than 200 of our hotels across the country and we are on schedule to transform the majority of our portfolio by this autumn, with our hotel in Basingstoke a part of that.

“With this further investment in new hotels, we’re delighted to be expanding into great new locations where our customers want to go, for both business and leisure.

“As a result of our ongoing trading and expansion, we’ll be recruiting 1,000 people this year, offering a further boost for local economies and creating more opportunities for career development in the growing hospitality industry.”