POP star Taylor Swift is turning out to be a big hit for Travelodge.
Her Eras Tour has sparked a flood of bookings at the budget chain’s hotels near her gig venues.
Travelodge said its rooms in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Cardiff were already booked up for next June — along with those near Wembley.
News of the boost came as the chain posted record results — with sales rising by 22.4 per cent to £478.7million.
The cost of living crisis has prompted more visitors to opt for cheaper overnight stays.
The Eras Tour began in March in the US — where it has generated around £80million in hotel room revenue.
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Taylor, 33 right — whose hits include Anti-Hero and Shake It Off — is the latest female star to give the economy a lift.
Official figures show Beyoncé’s ongoing Renaissance World Tour propelled spending on concert tickets and in restaurants and hotels during her UK gigs.
During the month of her concerts, recreational and cultural spending rose by 6.8 per cent.
The Barbie film, starring Margot Robbie, was credited with saving cinemas after taking $1billion worldwide.
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Vue International reported more than 2,000 of its UK screens were full on the opening weekend.
Victoria Bateman, economist at the University of Cambridge and Author of Naked Feminism, said: “Between Barbie and the shock-wave inducing concerts of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, female stars and their fans have been coming to the rescue of the entertainment industry and, with it, the wider economy.”
£3BN DAY FOR TECH GIANT CEO
THE boss of computer chip giant Nvidia became £3.3billion richer overnight as the company’s shares soared on the back of a doubling in sales.
CEO Jensen Huang saw his 3.5 per cent stake in the company leap by as much as ten per cent from £33billion.
It came after Nvidia said it had made £10.6billion in sales in the three months to the end of June, beating Wall Street forecasts by some £1.6billion.
The business has made more in the last three months than in the whole of 2020.
Sales have surged on the back of a boom in interest in generative artificial intelligence following the arrival of ChatGPT.
“A new computing era has begun,” said Taiwan-born Mr Huang, 60.
Nvidia is already valued at more than $1trillion, along with tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet,
SHARES
BARCLAYS up 1.50 to 144.54
BP up 2.45 to 473.60
CENTRICA up 0.30 to 144.80
HSBC up 4.30 to 589.10
LLOYDS up 0.26 to 42.13
M&S down 0.40 to 214.90
NATWEST up 1.60 to 225.60
ROYAL MAIL down at 0.40 to 214.90
SAINSBURY’S up 0.90 to 258.60
SHELL up 13.50 to 2,366.50
TESCO up 1.90 to 255.20
PRET UPS DISCOUNT
PRET has doubled discounts on its Club Pret subscription from 10 per cent to 20 per cent.
The scheme also offers five free coffees a day.
Earlier this year Club Pret membership rose from £25 to £30.
Energy, staff and ingredient costs mean popular treats such as its tuna baguette now costs £4.25, up from £2.99.
Pret said its subscription offer drove record sales in May and June, with 17.8million customer redemptions.
STAYCATION RISE
ONE of the biggest UK holiday parks, Haven, has toasted a 32 per cent rise in summer bookings this year compared to pre-pandemic levels.
They had a fresh £170million investment from private equity owner Blackstone.
Managing director at Haven, Simon Palethorpe, said Brits were “looking for good value”.
They also had a 12 per cent surge in guests staying with their dogs.
“Lots of people got pets in the pandemic, and don’t want to pay a kennel when they go away”, Mr Palethorpe said.
JOHN Lewis is hiring 10,000 staff in preparation for Christmas.
The retailer said it would be recruiting 8,400 seasonal workers and another 1,700 permanent roles.
They warned staff may not receive a bonus this year as profits come under pressure.
OIL TAX STRIKES
THE North Sea’s biggest oil producer, Harbour Energy, has swung from a $1billion profit to a $8million (£6.3million) loss on the back of the government’s windfall tax.
Harbour Energy said the tax on North Sea producers and the energy profits levy pushed its tax bill from 40 per cent to 102 per cent.
Boss Linda Cook said the tax excessively “impacted UK-focused firms”.
She vowed to increase UK investment to take advantage of tax breaks, before government policy changed.
BID OVER NEW ADD TO BRICS
SAUDI Arabia and Iran have been accepted into the BRICS group in a move that has raised eyebrows about the economic alliance that considers itself a counter to Western powers.
BRICS is the name given to the nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
However, the addition of new members with controversial human rights histories has prompted calls for democratic countries, such as South Africa and India, to cut ties with undemocratic members.
Mark Dixon, founder of Moral Rating Agency, which campaigned for businesses to pull out of Russia, said: “This expansion plan is an attempt by China and Russia to undermine the West.”
Chinese president, Xi Jinping, said “this membership expansion is historic”.
Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt and the UAE are also set to be members in January.
Mr Dixon said China and Russia should instead be lumped in with Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, which all have human rights abuses.
He said: “That union would have the acronym CRANKIES, their false values fit the word’s meaning”.
RECRUIT JOBS CUT
RECRUITMENT company Hays has said that it will have to axe hundreds of its own employees due to a weakening jobs market.
Hays, which employs around 13,000 people, said that it would have to cut the number of its consultants by around three per cent to rein in its costs.
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Hays is often seen as a barometer of how confident companies are to hire more staff.
The company also named a new boss, insider Dirk Hahn, to replace outgoing boss Alistair Cox.
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