Lower-priced rooms, and more of them, are on the way as UK budget hotel chains emulate low-cost airline growth — and create a US-style motel room culture in Britain.

The country’s second biggest budget hotel chain, Travelodge, already offers £10-a-night beds. It says that it will expand the number of its rooms from 17,500 to 32,500 in the next five years as it takes on Premier Travel Inn, the current leader with 29,250 £47-a-night rooms — and plans for 15,000 more by 2010.

Meanwhile, Accor, the French hotel owner, is expanding its Ibis and Etap budget brands across the country, with new openings planned later this year. Rooms at Ibis, which has 40 UK properties, plus another opening in Bristol next month, start at £49.95, while Etap, the cheapest Accor offering, has three properties with rooms from £35.

And easyHotel, the fledgeling budget hotel chain run by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, announced this week that it will have a second easyHotel franchise in London by the end of the year — bringing to three its total of London easyHotels.

The hotel chain, which last year began offering most rooms at £20-£50 a night, has also just signed a deal to open 38 properties across the Middle East, including six in Dubai, eight in India, two in Egypt and two in Pakistan, in the next five years.

A spokeswoman for Travelodge, which has a lead-in rate of £10 in its 152 “roadside” hotels and £26 in the rest of its 140 properties, said: “It’s a great time for budget hotels in Britain: the more competition the merrier.”

Travelodge is planning a “Room 2010” outfitting of rooms to make them more modern, with “futuristic colours and feng shui”, she said.

However, easyHotel pointed out that its flagship Central London property has a lead-in rate of £20, which is £6 less than Travelodge’s city best. A spokesman said: “Consumers know what they’re going to get with us: safe, clean rooms.”

Details: Travelodge (0870 0850950, www.travelodge.co.uk); easyHotel(www.easyhotel.com); Premier Travel Inn (www.premiertravelinn.com); Etap (www.Etaphotel.com), Ibis (0870 6090963, www.ibishotel.com).

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