I spent 4 nights at the Travelodge Manchester Ancoats in July 2008, staying in a Family Room.
Location
This particular Travelodge is reasonably well located on the main A665 road, however it does not have a car park. It is about a 10 to 15 minute walk to both Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria railway stations and it will take you no longer than 10 minutes to walk to the Arndale Centre or Piccadilly Gardens, where you can find buses and trams heading all over the Greater Manchester area.
The area around the hotel isn't particularly salubrious however and there's a distinct lack of bars and restaurants nearby - you are better heading towards the Arndale if you are feeling hungry, although I did find a fairly decent sit down fish and chip shop about 5 minutes walk away.
The Hotel
Travelodges are cheap and basic, and this one was no different. It was clean and as ever I had to request extra pillows upon check-in as experience
has taught me there will only be one in the room.
As we were staying in a family room we had a sofa bed in the room which we had to make up and unfortunately there wasn't a sheet in the room so we had to go back to reception to get this, but this was a minor niggle.
More of a problem however was the mattress in the room - it was ridiculously soft and after a night's poor sleep I had to visit reception and ask if there was anything they could do about this.
The response was fantastic - the receptionist was very sympathetic but was honest in telling me he might not be able to get us a new mattress that day, but he would do his best. Well clearly he did, as later that day when I returned to the room there was a new and much firmer mattress in place on the bed.
The room was quite large for a Travelodge family room - I have stayed in several and some can be quite poky, but it wasn't the case here. The hotel was also spotlessly clean, which I do expect from the chain.
The bathroom was functional with the obligatory power shower over the bath which did the trick at waking you up in the morning. There was a TV with a handful of channels but as we were in Manchester on a holiday we didn't really use it much, preferring to spend our time exploring the city.
Food
Breakfast is available at this Travelodge but I am not a fan of Travelodge breakfasts so I didn't try it. The dining area is next to the reception and you can have lunch or dinner here too. We had dinner one evening here and the food was pretty average but perfectly edible given how hungry we were. Cordon bleu it ain't however, and it's also not particularly cheap.
The restaurant area also doubles up as a bar and we found it surprisingly busy when we were there - past experience in Travelodges have usually resulted in bars with little or no customers, so this was a welcome change. I suspect the lack of any other decent hostelries nearby was the reason for the popularity of the hotel bar however, rather than the ambience of the place.
Costs
Pricewise this hotel is usually cheaper than the other Manchester Central Travelodge - we paid £39 per night for our room for 4 nights but its worth checking out when sales are on - I later discovered that had I waited a week to book I could have got the room for just £19 per night.
Overall Opinion
Whilst the area surrounding the hotel isn't particularly salubrious, I certainly never found it particularly threatening either and felt perfectly safe walking about in the area.
You do have to be aware of the fact the hotel isn't slap bang in the middle of the action in Manchester however, and if you want somewhere with bars, restaurants and shops right on your doorstep on a visit to the city, then I would suggest you look elsewhere.
I would also point out that if you are bothered by traffic noise this might not be the choice for you either given its location on a main road. I wasn't bothered by the noise at all, but I do live on a main road and tend not to notice traffic noise as a result.
My only real gripe about the hotel was the fact you had to use your room key to operate the lift, and sometimes this could be temperamental, with the keys sometimes enabling you to choose your room floor but at other times resolutely refusing to work - which was very frustrating.
I also appreciate the lack of a car park could be a problem too.
However for a cheap base in the city the Manchester Ancoats Travelodge is ideal as it offers clean and comfortable accommodation and is staffed by some of the most pleasant and helpful staff I have encountered in a Travelodge property.
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