Travelodge Manchester Sportcity, Manchester

...mile from the Sport City Travelodge which would be a reasonable stumbling distance from the venue (water has that effect on me! ;-) ). So we (my girlfriend and I ) using the travel lodge website booked for a one night stay at a rate of £29.00 per room (not inc breakfast). All we were looking for was a room for us to crash in.

Booking was very quick and very smooth on the web booking service and we had a confirmation email with a matter ...
...corner and saw the familiar Travelodge logo behind the eight foot wire fence.

It felt as if we were in a war bunker surrounded by a protective fence. We quickly parked and removed anything of any slight value from the car and made our way into the hotel.
On our way to check in I noted a “Pay & Display” car park machine and assumed it was for locals who were just using the protected fortress car-park, but no should you opt to stay ... more

Earlier this year my girlfriend and myself booked to see The Basement Jaxx at Manchester Apollo, we decided to stay over in Manchester instead of making the 3 hour drive home after the gig.

We looked on google maps and spotted that the Apollo was only about 1 mile from the Sport City Travelodge which would be a reasonable stumbling distance from the venue (water has that effect on me! ;-) ). So we (my girlfriend and I ) using the travel lodge website booked for a one night stay at a rate of £29.00 per room (not inc breakfast). All we were looking for was a room for us to crash in.

Booking was very quick and very smooth on the web booking service and we had a confirmation email with a matter of minuets. I was very impressed by the ease of the online booking, but i suppose this is there business.

On the day of the gig we travelled down to Sport City Travel Lodge following the directions from my Sat-Nav. The motorway section of the trip was fine and then we got to the outskirts of Manchester. Following the directions from my sat (which now told me we were less than 2 miles from our destination) we were guided through a local estate, which I can only describe as .... less than desirable. The number of windows that were made from wood was more than the ones made from glass. I felt very uncomfortable, don't get me wrong i am not a snob or from a posh area – but I just felt very uneasy.

A few turns later we came out onto a dual carriageway and saw a large Mecca Bingo, “Turn Left” was the Sat-Navs instruction. It looked as though we were turning into an industrial estate. Once more “Turn Left” came the direction from my trusted little black box. I noted the public house on the corner, again it had the delightful Wood effect windows. We turned the corner and saw the familiar Travelodge logo behind the eight foot wire fence.

It felt as if we were in a war bunker surrounded by a protective fence. We quickly parked and removed anything of any slight value from the car and made our way into the hotel.
On our way to check in I noted a “Pay & Display” car park machine and assumed it was for locals who were just using the protected fortress car-park, but no should you opt to stay at this location bring small change for the car park £3.80 for 24hours.
We walked in and it was the standard fare that is a travelodge, with conference rooms and breakfast room to the right, and on your left as you enter and a bar area (which was closed – it was 2.30pm).
Everything looked reasonably clean and tidy. We were greeted by a smiling young man at the reception desk who checked us in quickly and was very helpful. We got directions to the Apollo from him, but he recommended we catch the bus from the end of the street outside to the Apollo (apparently they run every 10mins till midnight), as walking would take us on the outskirts of a less desirable estate. We opted to book a cab, the receptionist booked this for us and assured us that it would be on time.

We received our key-card and made our way along the ground floor to our room. The corridor had started to look dated with many many scuff marks and strange black marks on the carpet, but I was not concerned by this as long as the room was clean.
We opened the room door and found... well your average Travelodge bedroom. It was a good size room, with a small TV, Kettle. (No cups of tea bags or milk – a quick trip to reception soon sorted this). Overall the room was acceptable (in a lot better condition that the corridor). Everything was clean and tidy, but parts of the window sile had started to crumble away and was in need of repair.

We decided to make our way to the bar to get a little light refreshment and a bite to eat. I ordered a bottle or larger and a cider (nothing was available on draft). But all the bottles were warm as the fridge had broken down, And no ice was available so the receptionist/barman gave the bottles to us for £1.50 each!

Next we asked about the possibility of getting some food and were told that it was not available till 5pm which for us was fine as our taxi was not booked until 7pm. So we returned to our room to watch a little TV and relax. Unfortunately the TV had no reception on it. I looked behind to see the aerial cable was bare (wire pulled out from the connector) I just stuck it back in and we got pictures (hurray). We sat on the bed for an hour or so with our warm beer and watched some of the free view channels that were available.

The bed was very firm (which is great for me). The pillows were very very soft and I had to ask for a couple more as my head sank straight through them.
5pm quickly came and we ordered a couple of pizzas from the menu. They were about £5 each so I wasn't expecting much, which was lucky as two 9” pizzas with sparse toppings arrived and were almost flavourless (possibly Tesco Blue stripe or ASDA Value).
Quickly finishing our cardboard, sorry I mean Pizzas we started to get ready (yes that's right a woman starting to get ready with only 1 ½ hours before we head out!). I was the first to use the shower, which was a large wet room with simple to use controls and a squeeze shower gel mounted on the wall. The water pressure was very good and produced a very refreshing shower. I got out only to find we had only been left with one small towel between us. My girlfriend went to reception and picked up a few more towels. Not a problem, but a bit inconvenient.

So there we are both clean and ready for our taxi which arrived spot on time at 7pm. It took us about 5mins to get to the Apollo.
The gig was fantastic (maybe I will review it at another time).
Our taxi picked us up right outside the Apollo door and we were back into the hotel within a matter of mins.
We decided to have a few more drinks and see if there were any snacks (chips – you cant go far wrong with chips) available. We sat in the bar and a very friendly Geordie night porter served us drinks from the bar (he had put a couple of cases of beer and cider in the kitchen fridge so we could have cold beer – What a hero!). He said that he could do us a sandwhich but hot food would take a while as he was the only one on duty. We opted for Gateaux and ice cream.

Again the friendly Geordie night porter gave us double portions which he didn't need to do but was very nice of him. So for 2 bottle of beer & 2 bottles of cider & 2 portions of cake & ice cream was £15, which I thought was reasonable – especially at hotel prices. The night porter even offered to call Pizza Hut to deliver to us if we wanted.
We headed to bed in high spirits and had a great nights sleep (maybe it had a little to do with the beer we had drunk- who knows).

We awoke in the morning and freshened up and checked out (well checked out, put the key-card on the desk), having opted not to have the hotel breakfast as we had seen a McDonald's not far from the hotel.

Overall: The staff made the hotel, although we only interacted with two of them they both went out of there way to ensure we were looked after and as comfortable as possible. The building itself looks very dated and almost on the verge of being in disrepair. Along with the area it is situated in, it probably makes it feel worse than it is (but first impressions do count). At £29 I cant complain although I wont say its great value for money as we had previously stopped at the Travel Lodge in Manchester city centre (for a Kaiser Chiefs gig at the M.E.N.) which was far superior. I think next time we will stay in Manchester city centre and travel out rather than stay here again. 

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