IT is the stuff of tangerine, er, dreams.
Budget airline easyJet is branching into Liverpool's burgeoning hotel business with its very own orange lodge.
It is to open an easyHotel after buying the freehold to 47 Castle Street, currently offices and home, on the ground floor, to Salt House Bacaro.
It plans to convert the four upper floors of the building into a 68-bedroom “super budget” hotel which is expected to open in spring next year.
“The ground floor of the building will remain a restaurant operated by a third party,” it says.
In total, the purchase of the building and conversion project is expected to cost £3m - a drop in the ocean when compared to the recent £18m Aloft conversion around the corner on North John Street.
For that you can expect somewhere cheap, clean and functional to get your head down - and nothing wrong with that. Walls, typically, are bright orange with the recognisable branding and logos running up the walls and mirrors. Hardwearing, rubberised floors, meanwhile, are "easyClean". Showers are undoubtedly "easyJet".
Simon Champion, easyHotel chief executive, said: “This acquisition in the centre of Liverpool is fully in line with our strategy to expand our owned hotel portfolio into targeted major UK cities. It provides us with the opportunity to create a centrally located hotel for leisure and business customers looking for good quality accommodation at an affordable price."
easyHotel already operates in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh with a further 17 franchised hotels in Europe.
