Not sure I like Travel Lodges any more even at £9 night

laudan

blue_monkey wrote: »

Have you got your tickets already? We just paid £153 for Splash Landings - 2 adults & 2 kids, full english breakfast (buffet I am told), 2 days admission to the waterpark and 2 days admission to the theme park plus free parking for 2 days for £153. And I booked it via Lastminute.com and got £11 back cashback too.

Thanks will take a look sounds like a great deal to me.

blue_monkey_2

laudan wrote: »

Thanks will take a look sounds like a great deal to me.

That is what we thought, the full details are here: http://www.altontowers.com/special-offers/tots-play-and-stay/ but book on lastminute and get the cashback.

Also, you get into the park an hour earlier each day so go in at 9am instead of 10 and get on the big rides first!! Not so sure about after having had a buffet breakfast though. When you arrive you collect your tickets from the hotel so we are planning to arrive at the hotel at around 8am. You can drop your luggage and when you get back after the theme park it'll be in your room.

aloiseb

If the room is hateful you can always complain - we had to once, when Travelodg had given us what was obviously a smoking room when we requested a non-smoking room for health reasons , and we got a refund.
mind you tht was a few years ago, in a £10 room - they may have changed their policy with regard to customer satisfaction.

flea72

blue_monkey wrote: »

That is what we thought, the full details are here: http://www.altontowers.com/special-offers/tots-play-and-stay/ but book on lastminute and get the cashback.

Also, you get into the park an hour earlier each day so go in at 9am instead of 10 and get on the big rides first!! Not so sure about after having had a buffet breakfast though. When you arrive you collect your tickets from the hotel so we are planning to arrive at the hotel at around 8am. You can drop your luggage and when you get back after the theme park it'll be in your room.

how can you compare a travelodge at £9 a night, with alton towers at £153 a night, even deducting the entrance price to alton towers, the room is still costing about £100 for one night

Flea

Sweet_Pea_2

We used to use Travel Lodges quite often and found them OK. Have really gone off them now though. A lot of them are old and tatty and in desperate need of a refurb. It can also be difficult to get breakfast, we stayed in one overnight on our way to the ferry to holiday in France. It was next to a resturaunt we had assumed would be open for breakfast as they always used to be, but this is no longer the case as they are not all part of the same group any more, all we were offered was one nasty looking banana between four of us, they had no cold breakfast packs left!
We ended up having to drive to a transport cafe for breakfast, but unfortunately my eldest gets really carsick, especially with no breakfast, so ended up having to pull over in a layby for her.
Also I think its now something to do with health and safety that some cleaning firms cannot use bleach, and the grout around some Travel Lodge baths is in desperate need of bleaching, I hate this and have to shut my eyes when under the shower, ugh!
Am now a fan of Holiday Inn Express, slightly more expensive, but you can get evening meals there if stuck, and they do a decent self serve breakfast too.

blue_monkey_2

So, room aside, the price - for adults and 2 kids - for breakfast, 2 days park admission, 2 days waterpark admission and 2 days car parking is just £42 (after cashback)?

Someone asked for info on Alton Towers so I gave what I had paid, they are interested, you are not so it does not matter, just ignore the post.

The OP actually asked is it worth paying the £9 to stay somewhere dire. In my experience no, go somewhere nice and pay a bit more.

Let's be honest though, TL are rubbish now. We stay in Holiday Inn which is miles better and you get breakfast and it's around £29 for the room and free parking. The last time we stayed in TL they offered us a complimentary breakfast of fruit, orange juice and a croissant in a bag to 'take away' - for £4 each!! We did not have enough bed linen and we had to pay to park. And we might as well have had to wipe our feet on the way out.

blue_monkey_2

Sweet Pea, the Travel Inn does a full english buffet breakfast - the Express does a 'continental' of cereal toast and croissants. There is usually one within a short distance of the other (I looked at Lincoln for a wedding later in the year) and there are 2 locally, one an Express, one and Inn. I prefer the Inns as you sometimes get the bonus of a swimming pool and as my kids are up at 6am it's a welcome distraction before breakfast!!

Also with Travel Inns/Express you can get toiletries for free at the reception desk, you just need to ask for them so there is not any need to take these with you either unless you have to use something specific.

Nikkisun

laudan wrote: »

Thinking about booking one near Alton Towers which one did you stay at?

We stayed at Stoke Talke - about half an hour away.

Previously we've stayed at the Alverton Motel which cost £80 for a family room including breakfast. The rooms are actually self contained chalets and the family ones have 2 seperate bedrooms.

ymgirl

Stayed last night at the travelodge London Tower. Paid £19 and it was brilliant. The room and shower were spotless. Paid £7.50 for a great breakfast for myself and my daughter (children eat free). Staff were excellent too. Really impressed and will definitely return.

vikingaero

redpete wrote: »

So emails or letters are ways to complain?

Note to self - engage brain before typing. :rolleyes::o

What I meant to say was that when I complained to the person on the front desk, they could never do anything to correct the problem and that I would have to either put up with whatever was wrong and send in an email/letter later. There was no way of contacting anyone higher up the food chain in Travelodge by telephone.