{"id":395691,"date":"2026-01-28T21:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/395691\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T21:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:29:11","slug":"travelodge-slams-labour-as-hotels-shunned-from-business-rates-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/395691\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelodge slams Labour as hotels shunned from business rates relief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hotels giant Travelodge has warned recent Labour policies have made trading conditions \u201cmore challenging\u201d after the sector missed out on fresh business rates relief.<\/p>\n

The criticism came in a trading update published a day after the Treasury confirmed fresh tax support for pubs and live-music venues.<\/p>\n

Chief executive Jo Boydell said the decision showed a lack of understanding of the hotel industry\u2019s economic contribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigher rates and a lack of bespoke support, together with wider regulatory cost increases, sends the message that the Government does not understand the economic value that our sector delivers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The budget chain, which operates 625 hotels across the UK, said it was disappointed to be left out of targeted relief while other parts of hospitality received specific support.<\/p>\n

Travelodge expects its annual business\u2011rates bill to jump from \u00a338million last year to \u00a350million from April, warning of further sharp increases as transitional relief is phased out.<\/p>\n

UK Hospitality has warned that hotel business rates could rise by 115 per cent by 2029 under changes to commercial property taxation set out in the November Budget.<\/p>\n

Although the Treasury introduced a lower multiplier for calculating rates, Travelodge said the benefit had been more than offset by the removal of the pandemic\u2011era 40 per cent discount for hospitality, leisure and retail businesses.<\/p>\n

\"Travelodge\"\/<\/p>\n

Travelodge has warned that recent Labour policies show they don’t understand the value of hotels to the UK economy<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

New property valuations have also pushed liabilities higher.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Government confirmed that English pubs and live\u2011music venues will receive a 15 per cent business\u2011rates discount from April.<\/a><\/p>\n

Travelodge said the exclusion of hotels added to a growing list of pressures, including rising employment costs linked to increases in the national living wage and new regulatory requirements that it said were making growth harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are direct headwinds to the health of the sector and future investment in a critical element of the UK economy,\u201d Ms Boydell said..<\/p>\n

\"Dan<\/p>\n

The business rate relief package for pubs was announced by Dan Tomlinson MP on Tuesday<\/p>\n

| GOV<\/p>\n

The company warned that the current policy environment risks undermining investment at a time when operators are already grappling with substantial increases in business rates.<\/p>\n

Despite the pressures, Travelodge reported improved financial performance in 2025.<\/p>\n

Group revenues rose 0.7 per cent to \u00a31.04billion for the year to 31 December, with fourth\u2011quarter revenues up 4.3 per cent to \u00a3261million.<\/p>\n

Demand was boosted by major events including the World Travel Market at London\u2019s ExCeL, England\u2019s autumn rugby international against Australia at Twickenham, and Premier League and European football fixtures.<\/p>\n

The company also completed its largest development programme in more than a decade, opening 21 new UK hotels and signing additional pipeline deals in the UK and Spain.<\/p>\n

Ms Boydell said the business remained confident about its outlook, adding that Travelodge is \u201cwell placed for medium\u2011term growth\u201d due to its brand strength and broad customer base.<\/p>\n

The Treasury has not responded directly to Travelodge\u2019s criticism over the exclusion of hotels from the latest business\u2011rates relief.<\/p>\n

In response to the support package, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride dismissed the announcement as little more than a \u201csticking plaster\u201d, asking bluntly: \u201cIs this it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mel<\/p>\n

Mel Stride offered a scathing takedown of the proposals<\/p>\n

| Parliament TV<\/p>\n

He argued that, after weeks of promising struggling pubs that meaningful support was coming, the Labour Government had delivered very little.<\/p>\n

The measures, he said, would \u201conly delay the pain for a while\u201d, warning that \u201cthousands of businesses are in despair as their bills soar\u201d.<\/p>\n

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said the package still left pubs facing higher business rates and offered \u201cnothing at all\u201d to the rest of the high street.<\/p>\n

She urged ministers to go further by boosting business rates relief for all retail, hospitality and leisure firms, alongside a one\u2011year \u201cemergency\u201d VAT cut for the hospitality sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hotels giant Travelodge has warned recent Labour policies have made trading conditions \u201cmore challenging\u201d after the sector missed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,2053,2222,229,474,56,44208,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-395691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-labour-party","11":"tag-money","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-tax","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-uk-politics","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}