Two new Travelodge hotels will open in Kuala Lumpur in the third quarter of 2018 (3Q18), marking the brand's return to Malaysia after a two-decade absence while enlarging its Asian portfolio to eight hotels.

The two new hotels - Travelodge Central Market and Travelodge Bukit Bintang - will be located in Kuala Lumpur city centre and serve as a springboard for the growth of the Travelodge brand across Malaysia, Travelodge Hotels (Asia) Pte Ltd chairman Stephen Burt said in a press release on Monday, 19 March.

"Travelodge was an iconic brand in Malaysia in the 90s, and we are delighted to bring the brand back to Kuala Lumpur with two great hotels in such superb locations. We are working on various opportunities in other cities such as Penang, Melaka and Kota Kinabalu, across a combination of both managed and franchised hotels" he added.

The 203-room Travelodge Central Market is close to major attractions and public transport, including the Central Market, Petaling Street and the Pasar Seni LRT and MRT Stations as well as commercial offices buildings such as Plaza Sentral, Sentral Tower and Menara CIMB.

On the other hand, the 168-room Travelodge Bukit Bintang is situated in the Golden Triangle and less than 1km away from the Petronas Twin Towers.

It is also close to Jalan Alor, Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Raja Chulan, where one can have easy access to local delicacies and key commercial buildings and offices.

The two new hotels mark Travelodge's fifth Asian market, following hotel openings in Hong Kong (2), Thailand (2) and Indonesia (1), and a hotel under development in Vietnam announced in the last 12 months.

Travelodge Hotels (Asia) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SGX-listed ICP Ltd.

Meanwhile, Midscale Hotel Investments Pte Ltd, which is also a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICP, is optimistic that the increasing investment in infrastructure projects such as the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail, and the 70-acre Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), will reinforce Kuala Lumpur's status as one of the key commercial centres in Asia.

"We are delighted to follow up our maiden hotel investment in Hong Kong late last year with our second acquisition - Travelodge Central Market in Kuala Lumpur" said the company's director Marcus Aw.

"We have taken into account the hotel operating cycle, the lack of supply of good-quality midscale hotels, and the overall risk-return profile in making this investment decision. We continue to source opportunities to acquire hotels in Kuala Lumpur and other key cities in Asia such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Bangkok and Tokyo, and are confident that the Travelodge Asia operating platform will deliver strong returns to us as hotel owners and help our partners achieve their investment objectives and returns criteria" he concluded.