London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Travelodge
Travelodge are doing a promotion at the moment where if you book four nights in London (and I think it’s been extended to Edinburgh and a couple of other locations), then you get the fifth night free. That meant that I had a five night stay last week in Stratford for just over £100, which I think is pretty decent value for money. This all means that I’m not spending as much time at Accor and IHG hotels, but variety is the spice of life (and Greggs).
The room, which looks like most other Travelodges in the country, was clean and too hot. There’s not much that they can do about that given the lack of air conditioning, and there was a fan available in the room. That fan was on the entire time that I was in the room, as it was too hot (London was far too hot last week). They’d put the duvet into the bag in the corner as they said nearly all guests were content with just a sheet, and their judgement seemed sensible to me.
The view from the room, over the delights of Stratford, the Las Vegas of London……
I really quite liked this hotel, although I dreaded getting in it every day as the staff have to open the automatic doors (so they’re not very automatic) and so I had to stand looking confused outside. There is a doorbell, but I felt guilty pressing that (even though that’s the point of it), but the staff always seemed keen to help and said hello when I walked by.
The amount of cleaning I saw here was also impressive, there seemed to be a staff member spending their time nearly entirely cleaning surfaces, the lifts, the floors and the like. There needs to be a bit of maintenance on the carpets in the hotel from Travelodge, but I can’t deny that the staff were making huge efforts to keep everything clean.
As a hotel stay, I was entirely content with the value offered here, and it’s nearly opposite Stratford High Street DLR station, or just a relatively short walk from Stratford railway/underground station. For those going into an area near Liverpool Street, TFL Rail run regular services there as part of what will become the Crossrail service when the thing finally opens.
The reviews of the hotel aren’t entirely ideal (but are much better than some others in the chain), but the problem for Travelodge is that I think it’s great value for the £20 or so per night that I paid, but I’d be less pleased if I’d paid something like £60 per night, which many have done.
There’s a long review on Google about how someone was furious that they’d “booked a room for 3 people” and the hotel wouldn’t let them have four people in the room. I’m not entirely sure how they were planning to fit four people into a room, and seemingly, nor did the hotel. The end result of this exciting saga was that the four people were kicked out, slept in their car and remained very angry at the hotel manager. The hotel do make very clear everywhere that they never accept more than three adults in the room, it was a very brave guest that risked sneaking more in….. Sounds an exciting drama though for anyone watching events unfold.
And there’s the review from a furious daughter that her father was smoking in the hotel and she was most upset that security asked him to leave. Not really a surprise.
Anyway, I didn’t have breakfast or evening meals at the hotel, as adding breakfast would have increased the room price by 50% and it never looks that appealing to me anyway. But, I’d merrily stay here again, I thought it was all comfortable albeit it rather too hot. Thank goodness for the fan.
