Hotel chains eye Harrow for development by 2012 Olympics

Two hotel chains are interested in opening branches in Harrow with the London Olympics just three years away.

Budget accommodation chain Travelodge is investigating opportunities, as is Hampton by Hilton, an American economy venture by the luxury worldwide brand that is coming to the UK.

The borough currently boasts approximately 900 rooms, including those at the University of Westminster campus, but Harrow Council wants to see this number rise by at least 10 per cent by 2012.

A spokesman for Travelodge said: "We strongly believe there isn't enough hotel capacity in London boroughs.

"Outer London is woefully under-supplied.

"It's fair to say we have identified a number of sites in Harrow that we are currently looking at developing.

"We'd consider an interest in taking over a going concern and we'd also look at new build. For Harrow, the hotel will be between 50 and 120 rooms, I would assume, since that's the size we go for."

A spokeswoman for Hampton by Hilton said: "There are sites across the UK that we are interested in and I can confirm Harrow is one of them.

"Hampton by Hilton hotels tend to be new-build. However, if there were opportunities to convert that's no less a possibility."

Incidentally, Harrow Council is still to decide whether to approve plans to convert an empty Scanmoor House in Northolt Road, South Harrow, into a 40-room hotel.

The council's tourism strategy aims to bring in a raft of measures to increase spending by overseas visitors by 20 per cent to £96million and the total spend for all types of visitors by 10 per cent.