Wembley-based hotel developer and operator Starboard Hotels will launch a £7m Holiday Inn Express in Lancashire in September, the first opening in a £50m hotel development programme that will see mid-price hotels in Yorkshire, the North East and the West Midlands follow.

Starboard Hotels is working with InterContinental Hotel Group, the company behind the Holiday Inn Express brand, on the Lancashire hotel, which will be located on Pendle Way in Burnley, near the M65 motorway.

The 102-guestroom hotel will feature four air-conditioned meeting rooms, a licensed bar and a café-style restaurant.

“We are committed to providing high quality hotel experience at a mid-market price and our hotels are designed to appeal to both business and leisure visitors,” said Starboard Hotels operations director Phil Houghton. “Burnley represents the start of a robust expansion programme for Starboard Hotels and we will be partnering with more multinational hotel groups in the coming months to build and operate quality establishments across the country.”

Starboard Hotels is working with Wyndham Worldwide on its next development, a 126-guestroom Days Inn to open in Wetherby, Yorkshire, next February.

The company also has two new Holiday Inn Express hotels scheduled to open in early 2010.

One is a £14m, 200-room, 450,000sq ft (41,806sq m) project to be located at the new Edgbaston Mills development in central Birmingham. The hotel will have meeting rooms, a bar, an informal dining area, and a terrace.

The other is an £18m, 202-room, 70,000sq ft (6,503sq m) project in the centre of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, adjacent to the Sage Centre & Millennium bridge.