Hotel chain checks in 300 new jobs

A hotel chain lifted a little of the gloom on the employment front today by announcing that it was going ahead with four new establishments with the creation of around 300 jobs.

Jurys Inns will be building hotels in Glasgow, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Portsmouth and Bradford in a £90 million investment plan.

There will be a total of 830 rooms at the hotels, which are due to open in 2010.

Jurys Inns acting chief executive John Brennan said today: "It is a significant vote of confidence in the Jurys Inn brand and business model that we can announce plans for four new hotels in today's challenging economic climate.

"I am confident that our competitively priced city centre locations will benefit from research predicting that up to 50% of Britons will holiday at home this year due to the recession and strong euro.

"Our positioning means we are competitive with price-conscious business users switching from four-star hotels and leisure customers that still want hotel pedigree and hospitality from their weekend breaks - something missing from the UK's no-frills budget operators."