Premier Inn, the Whitbread-owned budget hotel chain, has unveiled plans to build a new purpose-built floating hotel in Hartlepool Marina, Durham, during 2009.

The 54-bedroom 'floatel' will be designed to float vertically with the tide to ensure that guests avoid sea sickness, while sleeved piles driven into the marina will restrict horizontal movement. It will be the first property of its kind in the UK, and will be linked to the existing Premier Inn situated on the quayside of Hartlepool Marina by a pedestrian ramp and an external platform lift.

Mark Anderson, property director at Premier Inn, said: "We're always looking for new ways to ensure we have great hotels, wherever they're needed."