Budget hotels discussion

[STINT47]

Looking at Travelodge response from a PR and damadge limitation view they seem to be creating a case study for future students on how not to do it.

The whole attitude is very defensive saying staff followed procedures and no one knew shouting it when an apologetic response admitting that mistakes were made would be better.

As for the gift card initially offered. Words fail me as to who offered this.

 

[Harpo]

Looking at Travelodge response from a PR and damadge limitation view they seem to be creating a case study for future students on how not to do it.

The whole attitude is very defensive saying staff followed procedures and no one knew shouting it when an apologetic response admitting that mistakes were made would be better.

As for the gift card initially offered. Words fail me as to who offered this.

cf Ratners.

 

[Bletchleyite]

cf Ratners.

Thing is that jewellery is a luxury good. Budget hotels aren't.

That's why O Leary gets away with it.

 

[Djgr]

Looking at Travelodge response from a PR and damadge limitation view they seem to be creating a case study for future students on how not to do it.

The whole attitude is very defensive saying staff followed procedures and no one knew shouting it when an apologetic response admitting that mistakes were made would be better.

As for the gift card initially offered. Words fail me as to who offered this.

And a clear reminder why I dodge this brand

 

[STINT47]

And a clear reminder why I dodge this brand

I do as well. I don't mind budget and have used Ibis budget before but something about the Travelodge brand puts me off.

 

[317 forever]

I do as well. I don't mind budget and have used Ibis budget before but something about the Travelodge brand puts me off.

Some of the buildings even from the outside look a bit clinical or brutalist somehow, more than other hotels.

 

[Steddenm]

Just got back from a two night stay at the Southend Central Travelodge and they have really upgraded how they reset your key if you lose it. They asked for the email on the booking, home address, name and check out date before giving another one. Also the method of payment you used (card type/Paypal/Apple PayPal etc).

Was at the Carlisle one a few weeks back and they didn't ask anything except for the room number. Carlisle was filthy though and stank of weed.

The Brighton Seafront Travelodge was nice though but does house social groups from the local Council which can make it a bit intermerdating outside the hotel when they're drinking and smoking.

Portsmouth Central is absolutely lovely. Had a room on the top floor which had wrap around windows and views over the HMS base and is handy for PMS and the Hoverbus.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Maybe not exactly budget, but I recently used some of the Accor Adagio "aparthotels" in France, which have a little kitchen area in the room. Useful if you're travelling by yourself, staying a few days, and don't fancy eating out every night, which can be "too much" in terms of both food and money. Also adds to the adventure by shopping in a foreign supermarket!

 

[styles]

Just got back from a two night stay at the Southend Central Travelodge and they have really upgraded how they reset your key if you lose it. They asked for the email on the booking, home address, name and check out date before giving another one. Also the method of payment you used (card type/Paypal/Apple PayPal etc).

Was at the Carlisle one a few weeks back and they didn't ask anything except for the room number. Carlisle was filthy though and stank of weed.

This is perhaps a tangent, but did you lose two rooms keys in the space of a few weeks?

I think I've managed my full adult life without losing one!

I have had a couple stop working, maybe due to card clash etc, but only in one particular hotel that I can remember and funnily enough they've reverted to mortice locks, but they're a whole other story of a hotel.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Do Travelodges not have locks on the door inside?
I know they can be bypassed, but you would have to take the front key/swipe panel off first and know what you are doing.

I'm sure Holiday Inn/Expresses and some other hotels have them.
Also, some have physical deadlocks on the inside.

I always lock inside now and if need be put a DND notice on the handle outside.
The reason for this I was having a shower one morning and they decided to service my room (the bathroom is the first right after entering the room)
The girl was very apologetic and embarrassed - I laughed it off. I was behind a screen too.
Saw her later in the corridor as I spotted her trolley and asked her if she was still servicing my room. She told me she was, so I left her a tip on the side which she was pre-warned about.

All of the Travelodge and Premier Inns I have stayed at have a knob to turn on the inside which puts a bolt across. Turning the handle on the inside releases that bolt. Whether using a second key on the outside and pressing the handle would release the bolt I don't know. As a sole traveller there is no way of testing it.

As to the current news issue, we don't know enough of the exact circumstances. Personally, if Ms X is booked in room 1 (sole occupant as per booking record) and Mr Y is booked in room 2 (sole occupant ditto), there is no way Mr Y should be given a key to any room other than room 2 and vice versa. Overhearing someone else's details as they book in (confirming name and postcode) is not at all difficult but the individuals in this case were already known to each other though.

 

[Steddenm]

This is perhaps a tangent, but did you lose two rooms keys in the space of a few weeks?

I think I've managed my full adult life without losing one!

I have had a couple stop working, maybe due to card clash etc, but only in one particular hotel that I can remember and funnily enough they've reverted to mortice locks, but they're a whole other story of a hotel.

I've a habit of demagnetising them or losing them.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Apr 2026 ==

All of the Travelodge and Premier Inns I have stayed at have a knob to turn on the inside which puts a bolt across. Turning the handle on the inside releases that bolt. Whether using a second key on the outside and pressing the handle would release the bolt I don't know. As a sole traveller there is no way of testing it.

As to the current news issue, we don't know enough of the exact circumstances. Personally, if Ms X is booked in room 1 (sole occupant as per booking record) and Mr Y is booked in room 2 (sole occupant ditto), there is no way Mr Y should be given a key to any room other than room 2 and vice versa. Overhearing someone else's details as they book in (confirming name and postcode) is not at all difficult but the individuals in this case were already known to each other though.

If you try to enter a room with the lock on inside, it just flashes red. It can be overridden by the hotel staff though using a physical key. You can try it yourself. Open the door, put the lock on and then try using your keycard.

 

[Bletchleyite]

All of the Travelodge and Premier Inns I have stayed at have a knob to turn on the inside which puts a bolt across. Turning the handle on the inside releases that bolt. Whether using a second key on the outside and pressing the handle would release the bolt I don't know. As a sole traveller there is no way of testing it.

There is, "lock" it with the door open. A key card won't open it but the hotel will have a physical key to do so in case e.g. someone has a medical emergency with it locked.

 

[johntea]

I stayed at the Newcastle Central Travelodge the other day (slightly misleading as it is more Quayside and a slightly dodgy feeling 10-15 minute walk to get into the centre!)

Turns out they have actually extended the hotel with an extension block so it was about a 5 minute walk between reception and the room!

Although they were using the slightly more reliable RFID cards than the magnetic stripe ones

 

[185143]

I once had someone get given my room in the Travelodge in Croydon. I was in bed and the door opened. The guy apologised and said he'd just checked in and obviously was given that room. Obviously wasn't his fault.

I complained the next morning and was given a drink there and then, and a voucher for a free breakfast as I didn't have time that morning. Then a few people interacted with a post I made about it on social media. That got Travelodge's attention and got me a full refund. Back as cold hard cash (well, to my card) too, not a gift card.

 

[TheSmiths82]

Just got back from a Travelodge in Newcastle and they had just upgraded their locks to NFC. Sadly they were very unreliable and my card got wiped twice. On asking for a replacement they only asked my name and my room number. They did check my name against their records and spent a bit of time looking at the computer screen before giving me a replacement card but I just felt it wasn't really good enough.

There was also a slight smell of some kind of illegal herbs as well coming from the corridor. I paid very little for the hotel (£30 a night) and the room was actually nice, it looked like it had been freshly decorated and it was spacious.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Apr 2026 ==

I stayed at the Newcastle Central Travelodge the other day (slightly misleading as it is more Quayside and a slightly dodgy feeling 10-15 minute walk to get into the centre!)

Turns out they have actually extended the hotel with an extension block so it was about a 5 minute walk between reception and the room!

Although they were using the slightly more reliable RFID cards than the magnetic stripe ones

It sounds like you were in the hotel at the same time as me then! I had issues with my RFID cards. I found a much nicer walk into the city centre was via Quayside then up Dean Street. The hill isn't so bad and it is much nicer than using the subway past those awful 1970's office blocks. I thought the location was OK as I do like a walk down the Tyne. I think a more central Location would have been better but at least there was a Tesco next to the hotel.

 

[Iskra]

I stayed in a pretty grim Premier Inn at Gargrave last night. It had the worst bathroom I’ve ever seen in a hotel, mould everywhere, rusty fittings, loose toilet seat. Breakfast was lacklustre too, despite me being the only guest there at the time. I should have checked the reviews, as there are many similar ones for the Christmas period but this was all a bit unexpected from a brand like Premier Inn which is supposed to mean consistency. I’ve stayed in a lot of Premier Inns, and never encountered one like that before.

 

[TheSmiths82]

I stayed in a pretty grim Premier Inn at Gargrave last night. It had the worst bathroom I’ve ever seen in a hotel, mould everywhere, rusty fittings, loose toilet seat. Breakfast was lacklustre too, despite me being the only guest there at the time. I should have checked the reviews, as there are many similar ones for the Christmas period but this was all a bit unexpected from a brand like Premier Inn which is supposed to mean consistency. I’ve stayed in a lot of Premier Inns, and never encountered one like that before.

I had a similar experience in the one in Shrewsbury, the place felt like it was falling down. I just don't get the premium attached to Premier Inns, very often especially in big cities are now cost as much as a Hilton in many cases.

 

[Russel]

The one time I’ve had an issue with a hotel like this was in a Travelodge in Glasgow, where I checked in, went to my room, opened the door and found a bloke asleep on the bed. He had his bags all unpacked so clearly it was his room, not like some weird Scottish Goldilocks type thing

I once had someone get given my room in the Travelodge in Croydon. I was in bed and the door opened. The guy apologised and said he'd just checked in and obviously was given that room. Obviously wasn't his fault.

It seems Travelodge like to make a habit of this then, I checked into Travelodge Ipswich and was given the card to a room very clearly already occupied by another guest.

I was given a free drink at the bar, served by the rudest member of staff I've ever come across in a hospitality setting.

Glad I was only there the 1 night.

 

[Harpo]

Was at the Carlisle one a few weeks back and they didn't ask anything except for the room number. Carlisle was filthy though and stank of weed.

Used the Carlisle one recently and found it fine. Very handy for Spoons Street (two fifty yards apart) and the Vue cinema. But then Carlisle centre is only a hundred yards long and twenty yards wide isn’t it?

It also had orange juice at breakfast, not the cheapskate apple/orange that makes me feel like Dreyfus doing his ‘Clouseau!’ twich.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

...despite me being the only guest there at the time.

Reading your full post, I can think of several reasons why you would have been the only one staying there!! Clearly word has got round about the place?

 

[SuspectUsual]

Travelodge Manchester Arena

Two minutes walk from the arena, five minutes from Victoria station. Pre-booked months ago for £30ish which I thought was remarkable considering it was a bank holiday weekend night. Perfectly fine for a Travelodge, no room key / random stranger mishaps. The only downside was that the room was very warm and opening the window meant a lot of traffic noise.

I got there about 22:30, tired out after a long day of driving, football and snooker. All I wanted was my bed. As I arrived the reception area was full of people meeting to go out for the night. Made me feel extremely old indeed

 

[STINT47]

I had a similar experience in the one in Shrewsbury, the place felt like it was falling down. I just don't get the premium attached to Premier Inns, very often especially in big cities are now cost as much as a Hilton in many cases.

I think many people book them by default assuming that they're cheaper. Those in the know are often able to get better quality for the same or sometimes even cheaper price.

Premier Inn must have excellent marketing if they can create a brand that people automatically provide the best value without checking the alternatives.

 

[ChrisC]

I think many people book them by default assuming that they're cheaper. Those in the know are often able to get better quality for the same or sometimes even cheaper price.

Premier Inn must have excellent marketing if they can create a brand that people automatically provide the best value without checking the alternatives.

That was definitely me in the past. If I was booking a hotel for a few days away I would really only look at Premier Inn. If I couldn‘t find one in the location I wanted then I would reluctantly consider a Travelodge instead. I even occasionally did whole week stays in a Premier Inn.

Then about 12 years ago I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express and quite like it. I soon began to try other better quality hotels in the IHG group which could also sometimes be found at very good prices. Since then I have stayed at Holiday Inns, Crowne Plaza and Voco hotels in that group. I’ve also recently used Ibis and Novotel hotels and a number of exceptionally good Best Western hotels. I do know that Best Western have some terrible ones, but I have managed to avoid these by doing some serious research of reviews first. I now don’t even bother looking at Premier Inn except as a last resort if I can’t find anything better at a reasonable price. I‘ve also collected enough IHG, Accor and Best Western loyalty points to enjoy a number of free nights. If you opt out of room servicing at many of these hotels you receive bonus loyalty points for doing so. Premier Inn don’t even seem to include room servicing without requesting it these days.

A recent stay at a fairly new Premier Inn recently was quite a disappointment to me after staying elsewhere for a number of years. I found it very short staffed, there were a number of maintenance issues and the breakfast was not as good as I remembered. I also realised that the prices were as high as many much better hotels.

 

[STINT47]

Premier Inn have seen falling standards coupled with rising prices. If people still continue to book then it's a win win for them.

 

[johntea]

Travelodge Manchester Arena

Two minutes walk from the arena, five minutes from Victoria station. Pre-booked months ago for £30ish which I thought was remarkable considering it was a bank holiday weekend night. Perfectly fine for a Travelodge, no room key / random stranger mishaps. The only downside was that the room was very warm and opening the window meant a lot of traffic noise.

I got there about 22:30, tired out after a long day of driving, football and snooker. All I wanted was my bed. As I arrived the reception area was full of people meeting to go out for the night. Made me feel extremely old indeed

I’ve stayed there before and it is quite good, Manchester is annoying in how some nights you can stay for £30 yet others you’re looking at £130+ despite the millions of Travelodge and Premier Inn dotted around the centre

Not quite as bad as York where on Good Friday you could stay at Travelodge Micklegate for the bargain price of £265 for the night!

 

[Bletchleyite]

On the security one I recently stayed in a PI where I discovered the interconnecting doors for families with two rooms booked had been left unlocked. Seems poor design compared to the traditional type where each room could just open their side, but at least I noticed before anything awkward potentially happened. One they should be checking more carefully!

The excuse given was that the cleaners open them to let the robot vacuums do two rooms at once and probably forgot to relock. Oops.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I’ve stayed there before and it is quite good, Manchester is annoying in how some nights you can stay for £30 yet others you’re looking at £130+ despite the millions of Travelodge and Premier Inn dotted around the centre

Not quite as bad as York where on Good Friday you could stay at Travelodge Micklegate for the bargain price of £265 for the night!

I've seen Strangeways View at over £200 per night. It is not worth that! Pick a room not on the main road frontage though unless you are going to keep it closed all night. The side facing north is best, the others have either traffic noise or builders from very early. Good for high-vis clothing though as a white van appears early morning, presumably to supply to the builders who have lost/forgotten their PPE.

Strangely, for the same night, there can be considerable variation between the various Travelodges in or close to Manchester city centre, all much within the same travel distance of, say, the AO Arena.
Ancoats
Central
Central Arena
Central Riverside (new conversion)
Piccadilly.

Never used any of the Premier Inns in central Manchester, Travelodge is always cheaper.

 

[ChrisC]

I’ve stayed there before and it is quite good, Manchester is annoying in how some nights you can stay for £30 yet others you’re looking at £130+ despite the millions of Travelodge and Premier Inn dotted around the centre

Not quite as bad as York where on Good Friday you could stay at Travelodge Micklegate for the bargain price of £265 for the night!

Most of my hotel stays are for between 3 and 7 nights. That’s another reason why I rarely use Premier Inn and Travelodge these days. They may have some very good low prices which can be taken advantage of for short one or two night stays, but random extremely highly priced nights can make longer stays much more expensive than the same stay in many other hotels. For example, doing a Mon-Fri stay there is often at least one midweek night where the price is totally unreasonable for a budget hotel. I used to think this happened in busy city centre locations when there is a big event on, but I’m not sure that is always the case. I’ve looked at booking a Premier Inn in fairly quiet locations near to small market towns and these midweek highly priced nights still occur. Independently run hotels which have a standard price can work out cheaper for longer stays. You wont get the bargain priced nights but without the inclusion of an extortionately priced night they can work out cheaper on average.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Most of my hotel stays are for between 3 and 7 nights. That’s another reason why I rarely use Premier Inn and Travelodge these days. They may have some very good low prices which can be taken advantage of for short one or two night stays, but random extremely highly priced nights can make longer stays much more expensive than the same stay in many other hotels. For example, doing a Mon-Fri stay there is often at least one midweek night where the price is totally unreasonable for a budget hotel. I used to think this happened in busy city centre locations when there is a big event on, but I’m not sure that is always the case. I’ve looked at booking a Premier Inn in fairly quiet locations near to small market towns and these midweek highly priced nights still occur. Independently run hotels which have a standard price can work out cheaper for longer stays. You wont get the bargain priced nights but without the inclusion of an extortionately priced night they can work out cheaper on average.

I do wonder why there is such variation between individual nights prices. Sundays I can understand as 'weekenders' have stayed Friday & Saturday and gone home Sunday whilst 'working weekday business' is still at home but Mondays and Thursdays regularly seem to be cheap. Are the prices set to tempt people to stay an extra night and make a longer weekend of it? I take advantage and do lots of Monday only or Thursday only stays.

 

[takno]

Most of my hotel stays are for between 3 and 7 nights. That’s another reason why I rarely use Premier Inn and Travelodge these days. They may have some very good low prices which can be taken advantage of for short one or two night stays, but random extremely highly priced nights can make longer stays much more expensive than the same stay in many other hotels. For example, doing a Mon-Fri stay there is often at least one midweek night where the price is totally unreasonable for a budget hotel. I used to think this happened in busy city centre locations when there is a big event on, but I’m not sure that is always the case. I’ve looked at booking a Premier Inn in fairly quiet locations near to small market towns and these midweek highly priced nights still occur. Independently run hotels which have a standard price can work out cheaper for longer stays. You wont get the bargain priced nights but without the inclusion of an extortionately priced night they can work out cheaper on average.

The expensive nights may be being specifically thrown in to maximise revenue from long term stays. That could be businesses who are sending staff to locations for a week, or where a rate is being determined for homeless use.

On the other hand it might just be easier to have a night a week when there very few guests to make maintenance or housekeeping easier for example. You do also get private events such as corporate get-togethers and weddings which burn through a surprising amount of capacity, and are often focused on just one or two hotels.

It does seem to happen more at the budget hotels, although that's probably because the more premium ones would always rather be empty than charge the really bargain rates.