Travelodge Norwich Central, Norwich

Travelodge are the fastest growing budget hotel chain with over 320 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain. For as long as I can remember Travelodge have offered comfortable accommodation for an overnight stay.
Prices start from just £15 per room which is ideal, the prices are low because the offer a basic standard of accommodation consisting of a bed, tv, cofee and tea facilities and ensuite facilities. Unlike other hotels Travelodge do not ...
...all you can expect from Travelodge Hotels and for the purpose of this stay that was all we needed.

As we were attending a wedding in Norwich we knew we needed somewhere to stay and as we were on a tight budget I looked up the Travelodge to find the nearest one to the venue and the result was provided of 2 within a 15 minute travel distance, Norwich Central and Norwich Cringleford I went off the list provided by the Bride and Groom ... more

Travelodge are the fastest growing budget hotel chain with over 320 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain. For as long as I can remember Travelodge have offered comfortable accommodation for an overnight stay.
Prices start from just £15 per room which is ideal, the prices are low because the offer a basic standard of accommodation consisting of a bed, tv, cofee and tea facilities and ensuite facilities. Unlike other hotels Travelodge do not provide complimentary toiletries, a hairdryer or iron so basic accommodation is all you can expect from Travelodge Hotels and for the purpose of this stay that was all we needed.

As we were attending a wedding in Norwich we knew we needed somewhere to stay and as we were on a tight budget I looked up the Travelodge to find the nearest one to the venue and the result was provided of 2 within a 15 minute travel distance, Norwich Central and Norwich Cringleford I went off the list provided by the Bride and Groom and Norwich Central was there recommendation so I took that to be the closest location.

*~*Booking Process*~*
As with most travel companies now the lowest prices are offered online whether it be a hotel room, car hire or package holiday.
So I logged onto www.travelodge.co.uk and the homepage gives you two options to locate your hotel.

Option 1: Somewhere to stay
Here you can enter your destination such as Norwich, then the next page will ask you to confirm the region so I selected Norwich, Norfolk and 5 results were produced on the next page ranging from 0.5 miles to 34.6 miles to my required destination.

Option 2: Go straight to booking a room
This is the option to select if you know the name of the hotel and have the date you want to book. As you type the first few characters of the location the possible results appear below for you to select, then click to check for available rooms.
The next page provides you with the hotels information, address and price for the night.

As I stated earlier I knew which location I wanted to book so typed Norwich Central into the search engine along with the date and the number of rooms required, the price came up at just £15 which was the Supersaver rate which meant that cancellations and changes were not possible on this rate and payment would be taken at the time of booking, as we were sure we would be going to the wedding we booked the room as £15 really wasn't too much for an overnight stay.

I proceeded to book the room which took me onto the next step which asked me to confirm the date of arrival and the duration of the stay, the number of adults and children to stay in the room and if you are booking for somebody else it will give you the option to tick the box and then it will ask you to provide the details of the person to stay at the hotel and to include their address and telephone number at your preference. As I was booking for myself I just entered that 2 adults would be staying at the hotel for the 1 night and I was asked if I wanted to add breakfast onto the reservation and obtain a 10% discount making it £6.75 instead of £7.50 however we decided we would not want breakfast and get something on the journey back home.

Once all the details have been provided you click to add to your basket and if you do not want to book any more rooms go through to checkout as I was registered with Travelodge I just had to enter my email address and password and the room would be stored to my account.

If you are not registered you will need to enter your email address and confirm it in the box below and provide your postcode and click on get my address and this will direct you to the next page to enter your personal details:

Title, First Name and Surname
Password and confirm password below in the next box
Contact telephone number
Your address will be pre-filled and you will just need to enter your house name or number.
Select the reason for your stay business or leisure

Then you will need to pay for the stay by clicking on continue to payment details.

When making your booking you will need to provide a credit or debit card as payment which is now debited at the time of booking rather than when you check out of the Travelodge to enable a smoother transaction..

You can pay with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Visa Debit/Delta, Maestro you will need to select the card from the drop down menu. I opted to pay with credit card and there was no extra charge for doing this a some companies do charge 2%.

Next you will need to enter the long card number on the front of the card followed by the expiry date and finally the card security code which are the last 3 digits on the reverse of the card located on the signature strip.

If you're using a Maestro card, you need either an issue number or a valid from date for the transaction to be processed.
Your will be required to tick to say that you have read and understood the conditions outlined in the Privacy Policy and the booking Terms and Conditions.

Once the card details have been entered you will then be able to click and complete your booking and here you will be given your reservation number and also an email will be sent to the email address that is stored on your Travelodge account.

*~*About Travelodge Norwich Central*~*
The Friday before the wedding I decided to get everything together for the wedding that weekend and gathered the confirmation for the hotel and left a few details with my partner to sort out, however I hadn't read about the hotel and did not realise that there was not a free car park as it was a city centre location and that it was actually not the closest Travelodge to the wedding venue, my other half was not impressed as he was driving and the fact that there was not a car park did not impress him at all!!
I decided to see if I could get the reservation changed to the Norwich Cringleford location as it was closer to the venue and had a free car park and some other friends were staying at this location so we could at least car share, however after looking online and knowing that all I could do was cancel the reservation and lose the money paid so far, I thought maybe I could speak to someone at Travelodge and explain the mistake I had made and see if they would allow us to transfer after all we would be paying more to transfer to the other location as they were charging £55 for the night a £30 increase in our original price!
For those of you that ever have to contact Travelodge by phone, good luck. People who call through to my call centre really have no cause to complain with our automated system which gives you 2 options as Travelodge is completely automated and you have to speak to a robot called Lisa, well I say she is a robot I have no idea how they do it but there is no way at all to bypass her and I was slowly going in sane trying to get to speak to a real person, I tried the usual tricks of pressing various combinations of numbers on the phone including pressing the star and hash keys but was getting nowhere so I found myself responding to this robotic message service and eventually got the option to speak with a reservations agent and was able to explain the mistake I had made but was politely advised that I would have to call and speak to Customer Services and see if they would refund my £15 under the circumstances and make a separate reservation as bookings could not be transferred as all Travelodge hotels are franchises not much help to me, however unlike a lot of customers I accepted the mistake was mine anyway and I knew that the booking was non-refundable and decided to keep the booking and pay to park in the NCP next door to the Norwich Central Travelodge and hoped it would still work out cheaper than booking the Norwich Cringleford location.

Anyway back to the location of the hotel, as I briefly mentioned the Travelodge Central was located in the city centre and this was adjacent to St Stephens car park in the centre. If you are looking for somewhere to stay for good shopping or for a night out this location is definitely ideal, a bus station is directly behind the hotel so there are excellent transport links if you are traveling by train or bus.

The Travelodge Central is situated on the inner ring road following on from the A11 and is right at the roundabout and was easy enough to find and took approximately 15 minutes from the wedding venue.

*~*Car Parking*~*
As we had decided to drive to the wedding venue we were going to paying less for the car park as we were going to be out most of the day.
We returned from the wedding at just after 11pm and the car park seemed to have quite a lot of spaces already taken but we found a space on the first floor and made sure that the car was secure before emptying our luggage and making our way to the Travelodge.
As check-in is 3pm and our wedding had started at 2pm we were unable to check-in before hand, the car park is right next door to the hotel but there is not a lift to take you directly to the hotel's reception as you can sometimes get with hotels such as the Marriott which have car parking adjacent, however we descended two sets of stairs and the entrance to the Travelodge was just to the left.
As we left we checked out the cost for the car park which is also published on the Travelodge website.
When we left the following day our car parking ticket came to £12 which when combined with the price of the hotel was still a lot cheaper than booking the other Travelodge location.

*~*Check-in*~*
Since my last stay at a Travelodge the check-in procedure has changed when you make your reservation payment is taken before your stay and as they have all of your details on file they do not require a signature.
We had previously called through to the hotel to advise that we would be arriving after 11pm and they said that there would be no problems checking in as they have a 24 hour reception, ideal.
As we arrived the reception area was quiet, clean and the staff were in the back room but someone quickly appeared when they heard voices and asked if they could help.
I advised them of my name and she presented me with 2 keycards for entry to our room and we were advised that we were on the second floor and to go through the door on the left and the lifts would be right ahead. A key card was required to exit the lobby to the rooms. We took the lift to the second floor and turned left and our room was a few doors down on the right.

*~*The Room*~*
I knew pretty much what to expect from the room having stayed in various Travelodge locations throughout the UK.
I had booked a non smoking room and as I used the key card to enter the room I was greeted with an immaculately clean room and a cold blast of air the window was open and my beer coat was quickly wearing off!
As I entered the room the bathroom was to the right and the hanging area was to the left, pretty typical set up for the Travelodge and on the shelf of the open wardrobe area was an additional pillow and towel.
Next there was a long desk/dressing table area which offered 2 cups to make a cup of tea or coffee but no biscuits  I later read that items such as biscuits, hairdryers and irons are not provided to keep operating costs lower and to be honest I would prefer this I never travel light so always have my hairdryer!
A TV is provided in all rooms offering the basic TV channels and local radio so at least you can listen to some music or as we were to discover drown out the noise of the busy road below.
We had a family room which also had a sofa and pullout, which to be honest if I was sleeping on that I would move onto the floor as it was offer just as much comfort! The bed itself was clean and comfortable with a duvet and a pillow each it was just what we need to refresh ourselves before our long drive back home the following morning.
I made myself a cup of tea which wasn't too bad Tetley one cup tea bags and the usual "tastes just like milk" long life option to make it a milky tea and settled into bed and watched a bit of TV before I fell asleep.
During the night I woke up several times due to the buses coming and going behind the hotel and entering the main road in front of our room and as the traffic lights were directly in front of the hotel it was a constant stop and start of traffic and every now and then you would get the boy racers with the awful loud exhausts that sound as if they have a huge hole in them and then you would hear the sound of a police car or ambulance go past just as you are dropping back off to sleep.
The next morning however I woke up and decided to have a quick bath before we left for home, check-out was 12pm but we decided that we should get going as soon as possible and get home. The bathroom was basic, no bath mat but the floor seemed to be slip proof so the bath was ran quickly and the water was hot, very hot. There were 2 towels for each guest and I made use of the complimentary soap as long as I smelt of today and not last nights alcohol and smoke I would be happy.
The bathroom was basic offering guests a place to freshen up before moving on and it certainly offered what we needed for this stay.

*~*Check-out*~*
As the room was paid for at the time of reservation we only had to return our room keys and we were out of there so overall the check-in and check-out at this hotel could not have been better, no queuing which is just what I prefer.

Overall this hotel ticked all the boxes it was clean, comfortable and offered a bar cafe to guests as well but we did not venture down there so am unable to review.
I would recommend this to anyone that is traveling for a wedding or on business as it offers a great alternative to high priced hotels in similar locations allowing you to spend a little bit more on enjoying yourself like we did and if you need an iron, reception are more than happy to loan one out to you. 

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