Travelodge has launched a new multi-million pound bounty scheme in a bid to drive forward its £750m London expansion plans, which will see 120 new hotels opened across the capital.

The budget hotel operator has identified 120 locations across each of the 32 London Boroughs, as well as the City of London, and is now calling upon local residents to help find suitable properties or land to develop into new hotels. Travelodge currently operates 28 hotels in London, with a further nine in development, but, the company is aiming to become the largest hotel operator in the capital by the London 2012 Olympics. It hopes to open at least one new hotel at each of the 120 identified locations by 2020.

Former office blocks and listed buildings are among the potential sites Londoners will be able to put forward for consideration, with Travelodge promising to pay £500 per room to anyone who can identify a site that subsequently opens as a hotel up to a maximum of £150,000 – equivalent to the development of 300-bedroom hotel property. Tony O'Brien, Travelodge's UK property director, said: "To help us meet our ambitious growth targets, we are offering Londoners the opportunity to profit from something everybody has: local knowledge. Across the capital, we have identified 120 locations that we believe are suitable for a hotel but now we need to secure the sites to make it happen."