Travelodge London City, London

Travelodge used to be a moderately priced, sedate brand that you could spot on or near motorways, catering for the family on their way to grandmas, or the business traveller saving a few pounds on the normal hotel rate.

Things have changed, and the brand now can be found in 316 locations with more coming along at the rate of about 20 per year.
Many are far from the motorways, and more of them, like the Liverpool Street one, ...
...
People who choose Travelodge today, are either fully aware of the firm's business plan and accept the pros and cons of it - or else they may be in for a shock. Travelodge operates a similar business plan to the no-frills airlines.
Travelodge have a commitment to filling every bed of every one of their hotels, every night. So mammoth amounts of advertising and a clever pricing structure are part of the strategy.
Some folk have ... more

Travelodge used to be a moderately priced, sedate brand that you could spot on or near motorways, catering for the family on their way to grandmas, or the business traveller saving a few pounds on the normal hotel rate.

Things have changed, and the brand now can be found in 316 locations with more coming along at the rate of about 20 per year.
Many are far from the motorways, and more of them, like the Liverpool Street one, are in City centres.

1 Location
++++++++

Location in London , may not seem all that critical to the occasional visitor. After all, you can always hop on a bus, or catch a nearby tube.
Having used other hotels in Vauxhall and Clapham, I have discovered it is not just as easy as that. Choose badly and you might have to wheel your Gucci look-alike case several hundred yards from the nearest public transport link, in the height of the midsummer heat, or in pouring rain, or even in both.
And there are times when the tube is London’s most uninviting place to be, so a hotel near to where you have to be, with no requirement that you travel into the bowels of the earth, is a wise choice.

This travel lodge is called “ London Liverpool Street”, although it is in fact in Harrow Place. It is a couple of minutes walk from the Liverpool Street station, and is easily located. You will wheel your case alongside Devonshire Square when you leave next morning, walk on to Bishopsgate, and see Liverpool Street itself just across the road.
So you are within walking distance of Spittalsfield, Brick Road, Shoreditch, Petticoat Lane and such like. Even a walk through Holborn into Oxford Street is not impossible.
However, if you are taking the wife out to the theatre, and she’s all dolled up in her finery and stilettos, I don’t think you should try and persuade her that theatre land is within walking distance ! – unless you have not prepaid any tickets, and fancy a really cheap night out !

2 Costs
++++++

People who choose Travelodge today, are either fully aware of the firm's business plan and accept the pros and cons of it - or else they may be in for a shock. Travelodge operates a similar business plan to the no-frills airlines.
Travelodge have a commitment to filling every bed of every one of their hotels, every night. So mammoth amounts of advertising and a clever pricing structure are part of the strategy.
Some folk have complained that part of that strategy has resulted in over-booking, like the airlines, with late arrivals being 'bumped' to other hotels. As I have said elsewhere, I have used Travelodge umpteen times, and never suffered anything of the sort.

Many hotels in the chain are offered on a Super-saver basis of £15 per room per night.
Many other rooms are offered across the brand at Saver rates of £26 per room per night.
My recent stays at Liverpool Street fell into this £26 category.
Frankly, at this price, no critique of the hotel could ever conclude that it was poor value.
To get that price, I did have to book a few months in advance; and I did have to pay at the time of booking and accept that it was completely non-refundable. The two dates were not mid-winter, though. One was in March and the other in June, so the bargains can be had throughout the year.
I did try to book for a conference I'll be at during the last few days of June, but the cheapest I could book for then, was £99 per night.! As you gasp, remember that Wimbledon is underway by then, and hotels all enjoy their maximum financial intake during such periods.

Until someone offers me a room in London for less than that when I am over for Board meetings, I will stick with Travelodge and sing their praises.

2 Room Layout
++++++++++++

As well as trying to please the ownership of the chain with full rooms, the goal is to provide customers with familiar rooms.
Go anywhere in the Travelodge Empire, and the rooms will be virtually similar... variety is not the name of the game.
While some criticize that, I find it perfectly acceptable when the purpose of the room is utilitarian - somewhere safe, warm and comfortable to sleep before business the next day.
If you ask me whether these rooms are good enough for me to use one for my next wedding anniversary, the answer is ‘yes’, the rooms are good enough, but it will depend on whether I can get the super-saver rate or not !!

So the rooms have a comfortable bed, - big enough to accommodate my full length – and width - carpet on the floor, plenty of lights beside and above the bed, and on the work surface as well.
There is room to hang clothes, and space to store your case.
There are tea and coffee making facilities. There is a TV and telephone and a Gideon's Bible. The hotel offers the use of a device to recharge batteries in your mobile, pda or laptop, and offers a wifi connection as well.
The ensuite consisted of a toilet, sink, and power shower.
There were two large clean towels, a small hand towel and the offer of further towels and pillows if required.

The window in the rooms can be opened a little and since the rooms are not air-conditioned, that was welcome.

3 General Facilities.
+++++++++++++++

It has a first-floor restaurant serving meals and drinks throughout the day and evening.
There are no gym facilities, swimming pools, spas or saunas.!
There is no concierge, or smartly dressed porter to take your luggage to your room by lift - and no porters to then hold out their sticky little paws demanding a tip for what involved virtually no work anyway.!

The foyer has a couple of vending machines for drinks and a simple check-in desk.
…. Yes, and since I am simple, that is where I checked in … (that saves the wisecracks among you putting that in your comments.!)
Check-in at the desk was speedy and faultless, and checking out was even quicker.
The plastic card opens the room door, and also operates the doors from the foyer into the rest of the hotel. However, since they are re-useable once electronically zapped, they are not individually numbered. In my March visit, the room number had to be committed to memory. This may not seem too difficult, but when your brain is as old as mine, and is already a treasure trove of almost unlimited information, another 3 digits can create fatal overload. In this week’s visit, more sympathy was shown, and as well as the plastic card, a little cardboard holder was provided with room number jotted down
The whole Travelodge system requires a minimum of staff, but any I saw spoke nicely, and were helpful.

Conclusion.
++++++++++

This is a no-frills operation, but with rooms that are tidy, clean and comfortable. A couple paying £13 each per night in Central London,. simply cannot ask for more.
I would not pay £80+ for the room - but then again, I was educated in Scotland ! 

...less