... However, I managed to find train tickets from Manchester for £8 each way, and a room in this cheapie Travelodge for a too-good-to-be-true £35, turning our mini break into a bargain of a weekend.
I hadn't stayed in any London Travelodges before, but the city is crawling with them, and my ... Read review
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Advantages: Cheap and central Disadvantages: Bit noisy, bit grimy in places
...a room in this cheapie Travelodge for a too-good-to-be-true £35, turning our mini break into a bargain of a weekend.
I hadn't stayed in any London Travelodges before, but the city is crawling with them, and my first tip is to make a note of both the name and address of where you are staying. Walking from Euston this is the second one you'll come to (the other is directly next to the station) but we were coming in the other direction ... ...but none of the usual Travelodge bedspreads / throws. I actually preferred this: I hate dubious, shiny throws of the kind you get in American motels as I always wonder how frequently they change them. However it did seem unusual to be sitting straight on your quilt in a hotel, though with no other soft seating on offer there was little choice.
There were no bedside tables, but we did have bedside lights and bedside controls for the ... more
Getting massively discounted tickets to the World Gymnastics Championships was an offer too good to pass up, but I assumed at the time that our good luck would end there and it would still not be the cheapest of weekends down in London. However, I managed to find train tickets from Manchester for £8 each way, and a room in this cheapie Travelodge for a too-good-to-be-true £35, turning our mini break into a bargain of a weekend.
I hadn't stayed in any London Travelodges before, but the city is crawling with them, and my first tip is to make a note of both the name and address of where you are staying. Walking from Euston this is the second one you'll come to (the other is directly next to the station) but we were coming in the other direction from a brief shopping jaunt to Covent Garden and, even though we were physically on Kings Cross Road, stopped at (a different) wrong one not realising there were two mere meters from each other. The names aren't that visible from the outside but there was a big sign behind reception so we noticed and made a swift exit.
We arrived around 4pm and our room was ready (check in is from 3pm, but for £10 more you can check in from noon, subject to availability). However then, and in fact every time we went to speak to reception, we had to wait a while. The desk was roomy but there only ever seemed to be one person working at a time. On the whole we found the staff reasonably friendly and they tried hard, but the whole thing lacked a little efficiency considering the size of the hotel (big) and its location (central London). We were asked how many (electronic) keys we wanted and these were provided with the minimum of fuss: no forms to complete or signatures to give since I had brought printed confirmation of our pre-paid internet booking.
Our room was on the 4th floor, and we took the rickety lift up. To get there we had to swipe through an interior door, making the place feel quite safe for an inner city location. Our floor, which was pretty standard, was well signed so you knew which way to go for each lot of rooms, and ours was near the start of the corridor, meaning less distance to walk (though, as we found out later, you could also hear the lift dinging all night since it was so close). For the first time that I can recall in a Travelodge, we had an actual twin room, with two very separate beds, not mattresses pushed together, or a double and a sofa bed. The beds were very narrow singles, with soft mattresses, and made up with clean white bedding but none of the usual Travelodge bedspreads / throws. I actually preferred this: I hate dubious, shiny throws of the kind you get in American motels as I always wonder how frequently they change them. However it did seem unusual to be sitting straight on your quilt in a hotel, though with no other soft seating on offer there was little choice.
There were no bedside tables, but we did have bedside lights and bedside controls for the main light, which were helpful. We also had a desk and chair (though this wasn't under the desk, but placed in one corner). There was a wardrobe with a spare pillow (we got only one on each bed) and a TV (good reception on all terrestrial channels, and a random mix of others including news and CBeebies). We also had tea and coffee making facilities with a generous provision of sachets and milks, though, as per the Travelodge cost minimising policy, no biscuits. There was a bin, but this was very small and soon over-flowing once we'd put in a newspaper and the other various bits of junk you tend to accumulate during train journeys - I never understand the tiny little bins hotels offer.
The bathroom was as you would expect - bath with shower over, loo, sink, a bar of soap and little else. However we were perturbed to discover only one proper towel, and a hand towel, in a room booked for 2. It was quite cramped, and two people could not easily have been in there brushing teeth at the same time, for example, but there was plenty of hot water and decent shower pressure so, for the price, we couldn't complain.
The room was adequate but had a tired feeling to it. The windows, in particular, were a bit grimy, and the curtains were falling down on one side, meaning they didn't quite close properly, something that would have been more of a problem in summer with early daylight. They also had the standard Travelodge smoke detector which annoyingly has a constantly flashing red light that can be distracting at night. On returning late in the evening, we also discovered how sound proof the rooms weren't - there was a group in a neighbouring room getting ready to go out as we were drifting off to sleep, and you could hear everything they were saying so clearly it was as if they were in our room. We had no traffic noise in the room at all, which I had anticipated, but the thin internal walls were a bit annoying.
The hotel is a place to sleep above all else, and has few facilities. Computers in the lobby provided internet access at a fee, and wi-fi is also available if you pay. Vending machines sell hot and cold drinks, snacks and toiletries, and are not outrageously priced though you'd find a better deal at one of the many little mini marts across the road. There was a café bar that offered an evening menu plus a breakfast buffet, and though this looked bog standard (hot food, cereals and not much else) it seemed popular, though probably because there were groups staying in the hotel whose deals included breakfast. Room service is not available (would you have even expected it to be in a place like this?) but there is a bar menu in the rooms that says you are welcome to collect any dish from downstairs to enjoy back up there, perhaps if you prefer a TV dinner to sitting at street level in a busy restaurant.
We asked at reception on our way out if we could have another towel, and were told to ask when we came back in - I had assumed that, since it was their error, they would have sent another one up for us while we were away. When we returned we had to wait to get one, but managed to jump in with another guest ahead of us who had asked for the same thing. There were no spares left behind reception, so we accompanied one of the staff to the 6th floor to the locked linen cupboard, where she doled them out happily enough. It did make me wonder, though, since they frequently seemed short staffed why they didn't make an extra effort to ensure all rooms had the right number of towels in in the first place.
The following morning, after a decent night's sleep and two long, hot showers, we went to check out and found the reception desk unattended. There was a key drop box, so we simply left the key here and wandered off. Since there's nothing you can charge to your room (breakfast, for example, must be paid for in advance, even on the day) I suppose this keeps things simple for them and frees up their staff to be covering several areas at once.
For one night, with such a central London location, this place cannot be faulted for the price. That said, I would not have wanted to stay for longer than a weekend due to the sound proofing issues. We didn't miss not having fancier facilities, but had we paid nearer the rack rate, I would not have been overly impressed since it is rather basic.
This hotel is really well located for Euston and St Pancras (now the Eurostar hub) as it is within easy walking distance of both. It is surrounded by various tempting little cafes and restaurants, and shops that sell all the basics you might need during a stay away, and with good tube and bus links it is the perfect place to stay for a (very) brief stop in the capital. I would stay here again for a night or two if it was at the same price or less (rates can drop to as low as £19 per room per night) but for any more I'd probably look further afield and take my chances either with a different Travelodge or a Premier Travel Inn, just to see if they could offer anything better.
Advantages: Checkin was needlessly annoying Disadvantages: Apparently doest bookout, as just experienced with a test booking
...Surprisingly the actual Kings Cross Travelodge didn't look as dated on the outside as I thought the picture on the site made it out to be, in fact it looked dated in a modern way.. if that makes sense. And you know how us youth like the modern. Finding it was a lot more difficult than I expected though, in fact I was hoping to just step off the train and see it from the platform. Well, maybe I wasn't expecting to be that lucky. Asking for directions ... ...had my stint working on Travelodge reception a couple of years back). Infact, part of me wanted to question where the smile was, but I do not feel it was treatment just happening to me as I noticed the happy conversation wasn't exactly flowing during the check-in infront of me. I guess some people might not like having a dragged out check-in, but I think it's more polite than anything to not look so stern. When I used to work for Travelodge card ...
nathaninnit 22.01.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Travelodge London Kings Cross, London
Advantages: Cheap and well decorated with an immaculate bathroom. Disadvantages: None although some rooms could be noisy due to nightclubs and traffic.
...of £9 I secured a Travelodge offer and booked one night at the Kings Cross Royal Scot Travelodge. Now I have stayed in most of the London lodges and have had mixed feelings so I was approaching this stay with an open mind. The lodge is conveniently situated a few minutes walk form Kings Cross Station, and all you do to get there is to walk up Pentonville Road and turn right into Kings Cross Road where the lodge is on the left hand side. It really ... ...the entrance I was aware of many groups with luggage in parties, but a special group bookings desk was efficiently handling these, as many were Italian and certainly a lot to organise. We sauntered up and were quickly given our keys to room 112 on the first floor. Access to the lifts beyond the foyer is by key card so security is excellent here, and we were soon in our room and were impressed. Number 112 may not be typical of all the rooms as it ...
Violet1278 28.04.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Travelodge London Kings Cross, London
Advantages: Generally cheap, very nice, friendly staff Disadvantages: The London Underground!!!
...room at the Kings Cross Travelodge as apposed to stay in the Royal Scot which was absolutely awful.
CHECK-IN
Checking in was very good. We arrived at the hotel at around 11.15 and asked if we could check in early. Early check in was not supposed to start until 12, however the reception staff checked to see if a room was available. It turned out there was a room that was ready for us, we were charged £10 for checking in early. We were already aware ... ...able to make out the Travelodge sign on it, however i'm not sure. I could make it out, but then I know my eye sight is generally good. If you can't see it then you should turn left and there are several turns you can take at the same point. You just need to take the third from the left. Walk down that road and you'll see it in no time.
PRICE
The room cost us only £29 for the night, for 3 of us. At less that £10 each it was well worth it and I was ...
DC-DanielColeflax 01.01.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Travelodge London Kings Cross, London
Having stayed in many a hotel in London and many other large cities, I would rate this Hotel as the poorest I have visited. The Hotel could be vastly improved with a fairly small cash injection and probably better management!
Upon arrival at the hotel, the first impressions are a less than welcoming entrance in what can only be described as a run down area of London. The Windows were dirty and pavement littered with last nights meals from drunken ... ...time! General rubbish was noticeable too, which is unusual for such a usually clean capital city.
We arrived at about 5pm (Check-in from 4pm) to be greeted with a queue of around 20-30 guests which wrapped around the reception are and into the bar. This would have been fine as we appreciate that it was always going to be busy at that time on a Bank Holiday Friday. However the disappointment was to find that although there is clearly counter space ...
barmy82 17.04.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Travelodge London Kings Cross, London
Advantages: clean, good location for transport, helpful staff Disadvantages: some rooms are very noisy
I stayed at this Travelodge for a weekend with my parents. It was Dad's birthday so we all met up in London so he could look around the museums, galleries etc. I chose this hotel as their train came in at King's Cross and it seemed an easy location for them to be able to travel around the city from. We stayed form the 22nd until the 25th of February 2008. I must admit I read a couple of reviews after I had booked it so I was a bit nervous and had ... ...in to some hell hole! However, when I arrived any fears I had were proved unfounded. The Lobby and bar area all looked as if they had only recently been done and everything looked clean and new. The staff at reception were friendly as I checked in and when I got to my room it was clean and a good size.
The website did warn that due to the location some rooms may have traffic noise but mine was overlooking the car park so it was quiet. I met my parents ...
rachael23 26.02.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Travelodge London Kings Cross, London
Travelodge London Kings Cross Royal Scot is situated at the heart of the city of London, just minutes from Kings Cross Station. This is the perfect stopover point not only for business visitors to the capital, but also for those wishing to explore the many sights of the city. Within walking distance of the hotel is Saddlers Wells Theatre, St Paul\\\'S Cathedral, Dickens House and the British Museum. The nearest shopping centre is the Brunswick Centre. All of the london airports are easily accessible by car or by train.
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