Tips for Travelodge Travellers

Written at a desk in a room in Bucksburn Travelodge Aberdeen by an experienced and jaded overnighter, the following guide is intended to apply to all budget hotels and B&B’s

Before booking, if you are not familiar with the specific hotel you are interested in, check online to see if you can determine when it was opened or to find reviews etc. Good websites for checking are tripadvisor, Google images or blogger etc. Booking online is always cheaper and you can get some great deals if you book ahead. All of these places are per room, and usually (but not always) have a pub next door. Some have wireless internet access now but it’s far from widespread yet.

• The older Travelodges are miserable places but the newer ones are great. Older ones (e.g. Stirling, Stoke) tend to be those on motorway services and are used as truckstops, the newer ones (e.g. Inverness, Berwick) are fantastic and well worth investigating. The third type are those that are converted from other hotels and are sometimes touted as being new – eg Leeds Vicar Lane and Edinburgh Central. These can be hit and miss, and parking can be quite far away (especially Leeds). Oh there's a fourth type - the urban conversion. I can only think of one - the one at Dundee. Architecturally interesting (converted warehouse) although it's right next to student nightlife so take your earplugs. You are lucky to get a bar of soap in a Travelodge and rarely get a hairdryer.

• Travel Inn tend to be more consistently good quality but they are flat-rate, although weekends are sometimes slightly cheaper. They have converted some rather grand hotels (eg Carlisle north, although obviously I’ve never stayed there), but they are quite good at refurbishing older places so you will rarely find a bad one (although Cumbernauld comes close). They have the money-back guarantee thing too.

• Holiday Inn Express can be good if you book well ahead and get lucky with the price – this chain is quite new, so there are few bad ones and you get breakfast included.

• Innkeepers Lodge is worth a punt too, although some are getting a bit worn out now. They also have breakfast included and have a traditional feel to them although most were built during the 1990’s to a set formula.

• Avoid Formula1 and X because you might not even get an ensuite, and that can be a nasty shock!

On arrival, smile sweetly at the receptionist and pretend to listen to them even if you are pissed off and dying for a cuppa. They are paid crappy wages and deserve your attention to at least give them a bit of job satisfaction.

When you get into the room, perform the following checks:

1. Open the kettle and sniff inside. Bad smells to find are musty (mould) and chemically (bleach). I once stayed in a hotel in Surrey where the kettle smelled of bleach, it also had no power lead! I rinsed it out copiously while waiting for them to bring me a new lead, and stood aghast when the lad brought me a lid instead (stupid southerner)

2. Make sure all the taps work, including the bath if you will use it. Also check the plug fits the hole. I once had a bath tap which didn’t work and only discovered it the next morning when trying to cool my bath - I couldn’t take a bath cos it was too hot.

3. Check the TV works if you are going to use it (let’s face it what else is there to do?). A Travelodge in London did not have a remote control that worked – the receptionist tried in vain to find some batteries and just told me to get up and press the buttons instead. Trouble was, it was the type of TV which had a box underneath designed to override things, so I had to watch one channel all night.

4. Check the bed linen and if you are brave, look under the bed, and also check the cups and spoons.

5. Check the windows and soundproofing, especially if you are near the road. Older places have single-glazed windows and you will hear even bikes going past.

6. Check the heater works if it’s winter or you are in Scotland.

7. If any of the above points are dodgy, consider whether you can perhaps tolerate them and complain in the morning to get your money back – NB this only applies to Travel Inns (I did this with the cold tap incident above – got my money back, nice bonus!). If you are not satisfied, ask for a room change ASAP because leave it later and they may not have another…

Thank you for your indulgence.

Other cheapo accommodation is available!! B&B's are great (mostly...)