Our night in the Travelodge in Leatherhead turned out to be quite a stressful occasion.
Finding the Hotel
This is where the stress began, according to the invoice printed off from Travelodge, simply typing the postcode into a satnav, or onto an online route planner will be sufficient. Unfortunately ... Read review
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Advantages: Quiet Disadvantages: Hard to find, no parking, items missing from rooms
Our night in the Travelodge in Leatherhead turned out to be quite a stressful occasion.
Finding the Hotel
This is where the stress began, according to the invoice printed off from Travelodge, simply typing the postcode into a satnav, or onto an online route planner will be sufficient. Unfortunately this directs you to a shopping centre car park. As we arrived approximately 11pm on a Saturday, this car park was obviously ... ...Still we couldn’t see the Travelodge anywhere, there was an ambulance parked up, so my sister popped out to see if there was an ambulance driver around to ask, but the vehicle was empty. Off we went again, by this time the stress levels in the other vehicle had reached boiling point (all the chilled out people were in my car!) So we moved off the pedestrian way, and decided to call Travelodge, unfortunately the invoice we printed off didn’t have ... more
Our night in the Travelodge in Leatherhead turned out to be quite a stressful occasion.
Finding the Hotel
This is where the stress began, according to the invoice printed off from Travelodge, simply typing the postcode into a satnav, or onto an online route planner will be sufficient. Unfortunately this directs you to a shopping centre car park. As we arrived approximately 11pm on a Saturday, this car park was obviously empty, and there was no one around to ask directions. So we drove a little further on and spotted a Dominoes Pizza takeaway that was still open. They allowed me to look at the map and pointed out the way around the town’s one way system.
So off we went again, we followed the directions and ended up on a pedestrianised way, but there were other vehicles using it, and seemingly after certain times the pedestrian way is opened up to vehicles.
Still we couldn’t see the Travelodge anywhere, there was an ambulance parked up, so my sister popped out to see if there was an ambulance driver around to ask, but the vehicle was empty. Off we went again, by this time the stress levels in the other vehicle had reached boiling point (all the chilled out people were in my car!) So we moved off the pedestrian way, and decided to call Travelodge, unfortunately the invoice we printed off didn’t have a phone number, just a contact me link, which was of no use since none of us had mobile broadband. So it was a very expensive call to directory enquiries to get the number, and then almost as expensive a call to a national rate number.
We got put through to the Leatherhead Travelodge, and the receptionist directed us back onto the pedestrian way, and told us to look out for Argos, and then we’d find the Travelodge next door. He also mentioned that we could park on the pedestrian way as it was a Sunday and there were no restrictions. As we went back round again, the ambulance had gone, and low and behold there was the Travelodge just where it’d been parked.
Booking In
The receptionist was behind the counter when we went in, so booking in was very simple. We gave our names and the receptionist looked them up on the system, and we were booked in within about 10 minutes. On the reception was a notice about parking for people staying during the week days, the daily charge for parking appears to be £5, for people to park in the shopping centre car park.
Once booked in you get a card key, and can head off to your room. The stairs are available to use by patrons, but you’ll need your card to get through the door, or you can use one of two lifts.
Rooms
Of the 3 rooms, none were without their faults, 2 of them had no bedding for the spare bed, and while I went back to reception to get some sent up, the group members in the other room just left it as they were so tired an just wanted to sleep.
Far worse than not having any bedding, the couple using the third room were surprised to find someone else in their room. They opened the door and found the TV on and personal items all over the room, the bathroom door was closed so the chances are the person was in the bathroom, thankfully, the mind boggles at the thought of the sights they might have seen. Having returned to reception, it took a good 15-20 minutes to get it sorted, so by the time they actually got a room it was closer to 1am.
Back to our room, which is the one I can review the best. The bed was very comfortable and the bedding was all clean, when we eventually received the bedding for the extra bed, this was also very clean. I can only say thank goodness they brought up the spare sheets, because the staining on the mattress of the pull out bed was off putting to say the least. Luckily the child who was using it was in the bathroom whilst it was being made up, and didn’t see it. I have no doubt the mattresses on most hotel beds are similar, but as they say, out of sight out of mind!
The room also contained a portable television and a kettle. Even though there were 3 people in the room, there were only 2 cups available, with 2 teabags, 2 coffee sachets and 4 milks and sugars, so they were obviously catering for only two people in the room.
The rooms have an en-suite bathroom, with a WC, bath and integral shower and a wash basin. Unlike other Travelodges, there was no complimentary soap, which isn’t a big thing, but it was just another thing that wasn’t right. There were couple of hand towels provided in the bathroom.
Food and Drinks
Apart from the tea and coffee available in the rooms, the only other food and drink came from machines. In the foyer there were 3 vending machines, one for drinks, one for snacks and one for ice-creams. There were posters in the lift for breakfast brought to the door, which consisted of coffee or tea, juice and a cold continental style breakfast, which cost £4.99. This seems highly over priced, especially considering the Wetherspoons a few meters up the road do a full English breakfast for £2.69.
Pricing
As with other Travelodges the room rates vary, and occasionally you’ll pick up the rooms for £9 or £19 a night, but the general rate is £29 per night per room.
Other Info
We chose this Travelodge because we wanted to visit Thorpe Park, the lodge is only 15 minutes from the park, and therefore only about the same distance from the M25. Even though it’s very handy I don’t think I could recommend it in any good conscience, there were just too many problems.
