Travelodge Tales – The Latest

A recent family get together saw us travelling towards Manchester from Kent, and it was therefore inevitable that we would once again opt to stay in yet another Travelodge.

Regular visitors to my blog may have read Travelodge Tales and Travelodge Tips chronicling my previous experiences and thoughts, but if you’ve not yet read them, why not take a look now?

Anyway, back to my most recent Travelodge experience in Cheshire. To ensure the best price we booked about 23 days in advance (cheaper than booking fewer than 21 days before), paid the money and looked forward to our rooms (one for hubby, son and me and one for mother-in-law).

On the day we travelled the roads were a bit of a nightmare, and although we left home before 5pm, we didn’t arrive at our destination until close on 11pm. Thankfully we were greeted by a really lovely, friendly receptionist on arrival. Much to our horror, however, she informed us that we could have lost our rooms, despite being booked and paid for in advance, as the Travelodge had been about to go into overbooking.

On receiving this information we just stared blankly at her, so she explained if all the unbooked rooms got full, they would then re-allocate rooms that had been paid for, if they had not been claimed by 10pm. This was certainly news to us, but we were grateful that on this occasion our rooms were still actually there for us.

For the record we asked what would happen if we turned up and our rooms had been re-allocated. The answer to this was apparently we would be sent to the next nearest Travelodge with an available room. That would not have gone down well after the journey we’d had, I can tell you. However, we did learn, for future reference, that if we are held up, as long as we ring the Travelodge concerned before 10pm, we could book in over the phone and our rooms would be safe. This is definitely worth remembering, although when Travelodge have already received money for a room, I believe it should not be re-allocated, unless officially cancelled.

Our other big shock of the night was that although both the rooms were booked together, they were nowhere near each other: one was on the ground floor, the other on the first floor. Unfortunately, the one on the lower level had been made up as the family room, whereas it was much more needed by my tired mother-in-law, who felt too weary to manage the stairs (there was no lift).

But once again our friendly receptionist came to the rescue, ensuring us she would move the extra bedding up to the first floor room. Not only did she do this immediately, but also actually made up the sofa bed for my son, whereas we are normally left to do this for ourselves. We were very grateful for this little act of kindness, as we were shattered!

We were told that to avoid getting rooms so far apart in the future, we should ring the Travelodge concerned directly, to request that the rooms be together and to request ground floor if needed. Well, we all learn by our mistakes!

Despite these little blips, I have to say it was the most peaceful, well-kept Travelodge we had stayed in. Rooms were clean and well stocked with tea, coffee etc and the staff members were really helpful and friendly. Thanks for a lovely stay!