Travelodge, the budget hotel operator, is set to open 22 new hotels across the UK in the lead up to Christmas.

The £125m investment is part of the company's plans to increase its estate to 70,000 rooms by 2020, and will also include the opening of its 350th site. Four new sites are expected to open before the end of October in Hereford; Devizes, Wiltshire; Stevenage, Hertfordshire; and Barking, Greater London, with a further two during November in Worthing, West Sussex and Wolverhampton.

The remaining 16 hotels will open during December at locations including Cardiff Atlantic Wharf, Stratford-upon-Avon and Middlesbrough. A new site at the Tower of London will also help towards the company's aim of being the largest hotel operator in London by the 2012 Olympics. Paul Harvey, managing director for development, said: "The credit crunch is forcing people to review their spending habits and we are seeing more customers shift to budget hotel accommodation. These 22 new hotels, in some of the top UK locations, will add 1,949 new rooms to our portfolio – helping us to make hotels available to more people than ever before.

"We continue to actively seek and pursue new development and growth opportunities as we are looking to open a further 4,000 new rooms in 2009." Travelodge hope to achieve their growth plan through a mixture of new builds and conversions, including existing hotels, office blocks and grade-II listed buildings.