Great 'Best Travelodge Holidays' Hunt: Which travelodge's offer the perfect get away?

instructer1

weeman5 wrote: »

T5 travel lodge. got a cheap deal (think it was £19 for a twin room). rooms good and clean as it's a fairly new building.perfect for getting early flights as the shuttle bus picks you up the front door. I had the bus to myself on early January morning - my own personal very large taxi to the airport! Perfect.

agree about the hotel, because you were not driving you missed the parking, although they have a huge carpark when you arrive you're informed there is a £5 parking fee!!!!!!!

Burylady

I paid £9 per room and got a sea view! There is also a small car park at the back. We parked the car and then went everywhere on the bus. The Travelodge is a refurbished hotel and is very nice. You can also get a pizza from the restaurant and take it back to the room.

alisont

cheap_charlie wrote: »

I really rate the London Marylebone Travelodge - its a great location but not too noisy (except traffic). It was also refurbished during January and February this year so all rooms are fresh and when I stayed in February the only thing that seemed needing doing was replacing the carpet in communal areas.

Other good ones IMO are Newcastle Central, Windsor and Brighton Seafront - all pleasant rooms and all in good locations.

Thats good news about the refurb at Marylebone as Im staying there in Sept on a £9 room - I knew it was on the refurb list but didnt know when it was being done. Farringdon must be on that list now as last time I went it was shabby.

I know several people who say the Birmingham Broad St one is the worst ever!

smk77

Newcastle - Gateshead. Avoid weekends if you don't want waking up between 12am and 6am with groups returning from a nights out shouting and swearing. I thought February would avoid the stag and hen nights but I was wrong!

Cockermouth - Nice and clean. Poor food in cafe!

Durham - Lovely hotel in very nice city.

saintstreaky

I would happily go back to any of these:

Birmingham Broadway Plaza - a fair walk (20 mins?) from the station/centre, but maybe a better bet than the Central one. Reasonably convenient for ICC/Symphony Hall etc, and situated in a leisure complex with restaurants etc. Well away from traffic, the main problem was having a room over a bowling alley but I didn't notice this after about 11 pm.

Burford Cotswolds - if you're lucky enough to find discounted rooms this must be far cheaper than anywhere else in the Cotswolds. Clean and very tired. Main problem was (except for Little Chef on the same site) all the restaurants in Burford seemed pricey.

Cheshunt - stayed here when I needed to be at Stansted early. In the middle of nowhere (although it does have bar food), but fine for drivers en route somewhere.

Cheltenham - a little out of town, but convenient for motorway + Gloucester. Maybe getting a bit tired, but it's usually reasonably quiet, although occasionally local teenagers congregate in the car park at night. On a deal it's far cheaper than other local hotels/B&Bs - I've got three nights for £27 total booked in June.

London Docklands is a nice enough hotel, and often has cheap rooms. Might not be ideal for people travelling back alone later at night - it's five minutes from the DLR along deserted commercial buildings.

London Liverpool Street - reasonably central, convenient for several tube stations.

London Marylebone - as others have said, very convenient and surprisingly quiet.

jmcm

I use Travelodges quite regularly. Functional rather than plush but why pay more when you don't spend much time there anyway.

A couple of good locations-
* Newcastle Central- right on the river near the Millennium Bridge
* Brighton Seafront- a bit tired but nice spot near the seafront, the 'Lanes' and other sights. A handy stop before an early Gatwick flight if you're traveling from Birmingham or further North

purt

I'm a bit dubious of this thread. Why? Simply because, what's one man's meat is another's treasure.

I've stayed in countless Travelodge hotels thanks to their fantastic prices. Taking into account what I've paid for the rooms for most of my stays, I can honestly say I've never had a bad experience with any of the Travelodges I've stayed with.

I got a great deal on the London Liverpool Street Travelodge once. An entire week for £70 excluding breakfast. Yes! £10 per night. Now, if I wanted to, I could moan that it was tucked away in the financial district, I had to get a tube or bus to everywhere I wanted to go in London etc etc. However, I simply wouldn't dream of doing so. For less than the cost of one night's accommodation in most other hotel chains, I got a room that was modern, spacious, clean, comfortable and serviced on a daily basis. It had a TV and free tea and coffee, towels etc etc.

Travelodge has created a revolution in the hotel industry I feel, and long may it continue. Their business model demonstrates how we've been ripped off in other hotel chains for years. The great news is that they're also opening new hotels across the country and their rooms are increasing in quality in terms of design and facilities (their London Euston, City Road & Southwark being prime examples).

Of course, there are some Travelodges that are a bit grubby and showing their age. However, if you're paying anything from £9-49 per night, can you really complain? Equally, read any of the reviews on TripAdvisor and it's astounding what some people expect of a Travelodge room for their £9. If you want a hotel room with plush furnishings, in the heart of a city etc etc then be prepared to pay for it at a premium. Just don't expect the same of your £9 a night room.

brifox

madmags222 wrote: »

I have been on a few travelodge holidays when on special offer and we've usually been on a low budget, buying croissants/muffins/fruit salad at the supermarket to have for breakfast in the room and taking along cup-a-soup etc for an easy snack, then wine, cheese, olives or something for a the evening while watching tv if staying in.

The best perhaps was Inverness, when I was lucky to get 5 nights for £10 a night a few years ago. Although nothing special, the room was fine and the staff were friendly.

The hotel is the usual box on the edge of the main road and retail park, but a mile (ish) and a regular bus ride away is the lovely town of Inverness with fabulous pubs and leaky's the best 2nd hand bookshop & cafe in an old church. The retail park had a cinema, a Borders bookshop with cafe and a Tesco for the croissants for breakfast etc.

THE best thing however was the fantastic scenery on the doorstep, being within a short distance of Loch Ness and Urquart Castle, then the Moray firth and the Black Isle with lovely Cromarty and Chanonery Point (the best place for dolphin watching in Europe!). Great for bird watching also.

Sorry for the long post .. just too much info to impart!

It must have been a few years ago!! Now they charge you £3 per night just to use their car park. I agree with everything you said about the area around Inverness but I will not use this below average lodge ever again. Bear in mind that currently the stated Travelodge strategy is to major on attracting the Business sector - not the holidaymaker. When we were there in September 2008 there were more white vans on the car park than cars.

durbanchick

We use Travelodges regularly and very seldom have cause to grumble. However, we were disappointed with the Cockermouth one, they don't own the carpark so you have to pay £2 (as at last Sept) to park, even though it's not a city centre location. The room itself was very spartan (less shelves than usual, much less comfortable bed than usual) and the food wasn't very good. We paid full price and I accept an earlier poster's point that you can't complain even at that price, but the Travelodge brand promises certain basics, and I thought the Cockermouth lodge fell short.

Lodges that are fine: the one outside Eastbourne (Hellingly), London Docklands, Kings Lynn (fairly convenient for north west norfolk coast and birding). The Redditch one is just down the road from where I live, I haven't stayed there, but the location is nice and it's quite new.

redbeard2000

Travelodge is a godsend when it comes time for a trip to London. I cannot fathom why most other hotels charge a minimum of £70/night and that's for a grot spot! I once PAID MONEY to sleep on a mattress. Literally, 'a mattress' with no bedframe or springs.

We weren't too keen though on the Covent Garden Travelodge. Maybe it's different in the other block (there are two on either side of the street) but ours was a bit poor. The A/C had no thermostat, so you either tolerated 'all blow' or 'no go'. The bathroom was grubby and lacked an extractor fan. Time for bed, and the bedsprings had more sag than a National Geographic cover girl.

Far better is the City Road one, as long as you ask for an interior room overlooking the courtyard, not the road. An equal distance between 2 tube stations in an interesting neighbourhood that stays lively even on a weekend. Very smart.

The Carlisle one is good, as is Newcastle quayside (though it's not that close to the river). The only way to avoid revellers is to not book a Saturday night.

I'd never do breakfast with them, it cost almost as much as the room!