Two Norwich hotels are to be given a £340,000 facelift as part of a £100m investment drive by Travelodge.

The money will be used to redesign the rooms and install new beds at the Norwich Central hotel on Queens Road and the Norwich Riverside hotel on Vedast Street.

But the local revamp is only part of its far-reaching plans to open 15 new hotels and create 1,000 jobs by the end of this year.

New hotels will open in London, Glasgow, Manchester, Southampton, Southport, Harrogate, Christchurch, Llandudno, Chertsey, Egham, and Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

The new jobs will include managers, receptionists, cleaners and restaurant staff.

Peter Gowers, Travelodge chief executive, said: 'During the last year we modernised more than 200 of our hotels across the country and we are on schedule to transform the majority of our portfolio by this autumn.

'With this further investment in new hotels, we're delighted to be expanding into great new locations where our customers want to go, for both business and leisure.

'As a result of our ongoing trading and expansion, we'll be recruiting 1,000 people this year, offering a further boost for local economies and creating more opportunities for career development in the growing hospitality industry.'

Travelodge's 59-room Acle hotel was one of the first 500 to benefit from the refit programme.

And last year the company also revamped the Norwich Cringleford hotel and vowed to create 14 new jobs in King's Lynn by building a 68-room hotel on the Hardwick Road.

Previously, Larling-based Warings Furniture – which recently won a £4m contract with hospitality-giant Whitbread – has supplied furniture to the Travelodge group.

The hotel chain is pinning its hopes on the refreshed look to draw in customers, with the rooms featuring a blue and cream colour palette, swoosh stripes on the curtains and bed runner, a larger desk, new carpets, new artwork, a white contemporary en-suite bathroom, and a new kingsize bed.