Welcome Lodge
| Locations: | up to 19? |
| Used by: | Welcome Break |
| Introduced: | 1990? |
| Removed: | 2009 |
| Predecessors: | Travelodge |
| Successors: | Days Inn |
Welcome Lodge was, as its name suggests, a hotel brand that was closely tied to Welcome Break. It effectively lived through two incarnations.
Welcome Lodge was created around the time that Forte relaunched Welcome Break in 1988. Forte had introduced Forte Travelodge to many service areas, but over time their Travelodge had become focused on low prices, low costs and consistency. The Welcome Lodge name was applied to four of the older motorway lodges that didn't suit Travelodge's new image.
In a brochure, Forte described Welcome Lodge as "small, informal, friendly and comfortable". This was a marked difference from how they would speak about Travelodge, where they only mentioned its low prices and nationwide coverage. Welcome Lodge was still supposed to offer value, but it was a more personalised experience, and had a free breakfast thrown in.
The Welcome Lodge logo was in the same font as Welcome Break's at the time, with white text in a serif font over a pale blue background.
Roll-out and Withdrawal
In 1995 Forte and its brands were all purchased by Granada. The Monopolies and Mergers Commission ruled that Welcome Break needed to be sold, and that it must lose all ties with what Granada now owned. The new owners used the Welcome Lodge name to remove all evidence of Travelodge at Welcome Break.
This new era of Welcome Lodge adapted to use Welcome Break's new logo, with a swan over a sunrise. In an advert, they claimed that "value for money and quality have become bywords" for Welcome Lodge.
The new Welcome Break would see roadside accommodation as an important business area. In 1999 they started replacing the Welcome Lodges with a licence use of the better-known brand Days Inn. The changeover was planned to be quick, but there was little action and it wasn't until April 2009 that the final Welcome Lodge changed at Charnock Richard.
Locations
Welcome Lodge used to be found at the following services:
- Abington (M74/A74(M))
- Birchanger Green (M11/A120)
- Burtonwood (M62)
- Charnock Richard (M6)
- Fleet (M3)
- Gordano (M5)
- Gretna Green (A74(M))
- Hartshead Moor (M62)
- Hopwood Park (M42)
- Leicester Forest East (M1)
- London Gateway (M1)
- Membury (M4)
- Michael Wood (M5)
- Newport Pagnell (M1)
- Oxford (M40/A40)
- Oxford Peartree (A34/A40/A44)
- Sarn Park (M4)
- Sedgemoor (M5)
- South Mimms (M25/A1(M)/A1)
- Telford (M54)
- Warwick (M40)
- Woodall (M1)