Witty one line comment goes here.... now all I need is to think of one
Witty one line comment goes here.... now all I need is to think of one
Member since:01.01.2006
Reviews:17
Members who trust:2
Introduction As part of my job occasional travel and stays away are necessary. This time it was a visit to Microsoft Campus in Thames Valley Park, Reading that meant I was going to spend a night in the Reading Whitley Travelodge. As it turns out its listed on Ciao so I'll make a review out of it - first hotel review that I've tried so please be gently with me.
Finding it The address is 387 Basingstoke Road, Whitley. Tom (TomTom to give him his full name) has a pretty spot on idea where this is. The Travelodge building itself isn't visible from the road but you should be able to spot the sign. Travelodge's directions don't make particularly clear that what you are really looking for is a large Harvester called the World Upside Down - what a bizarre name. If you come off the M4 at Junc 11 and then follow a couple of turns onto Basingstoke Road the hotel will be on your right. The car park entrance is on the far side of the harvester and not particularly easy to spot in the dark. Drive behind the pub into the Travelodge car park and you will see plenty of parking for a very impressively sized Travelodge building.
Arrival After nearly five hours driving down from the
North East I was really hoping that I was going to arrive somewhere with easy check in and easy to find rooms. It was about five to ten at night when I arrived so I realised that I would have missed food in the harvester so was also hoping that there would be something to eat somewhere near by.
Got a parking space very near the entrance… result… into the lobby and reception was still staffed - there's apparently someone there 24 hours. I was met by a truly helpful individual, check in was nice and simple. My request for food was met with good directions to takeaways five minutes walk and a copy of the menus, just leave the menus in the room after - oh and they'll deliver to your room - and there's a cash machine on the way. The promised food was a five minute walk, OK then so I timed myself there and yes it took me five minutes…. Don't dawdle there's food at the end of this walk.
This Travelodge (like many others) doesn't provide a cooked breakfast at all. As their website says, the nearest cooked breakfast is Morrisons, also a five minute walk away. Actually it's just opposite the Chinese I went to…. Morrisons all day breakfast, who could ask for more… but that's another review subject I'm sure. However I opted for the Travelodge Breakfast in a bag, just this once.
The Hotel and Room In the entrance lobby there is a big vending machine with: drinks, chocolate, crisps, some sort of tuna salad snack thing. There was a really good choice of products in the machine.
On checking in I was given an old fashioned style conventional metal door key, I was expecting one of the swipe cards.
The lobby area was really clean and well tended to. My room was on the first floor and along the corridor which was really clean and well let by some great wall lights.
Room numbers are on the door locks; would be nice if they were placed at eye level and easier to see, but found my room, not too far from reception. The room was lovely and warm, someone had taken the trouble to make sure the heating was on and turned up. Everywhere was superbly clean although it did look a little dated. For some reason the front covers on the wall lights in the room weren't fixed on properly at one side so looked a little skewed.
The room was a good size, the bed was a bit on the soft side though but still comfortable enough. You get a little set of tea and coffee sachets to brew up a drink but no little biscuits (TravelInn have some gorgeous biscuits that they put in the rooms). The telly has a fairly new payperview box plugged into it. I actually couldn't get this to work and its pay per view menu thing just gave me a blank blue screen but I could get the five main terrestrial channels so that was all I wanted. There's no wireless network here but a silly modem point on the phone with a card reader to swipe your credit card through to get on line…. Please who's going back to 56k? wireless or nothing.
The bathroom was OK, again spotless, with a little bar of soap in a sealed packet and two clean towels. There was a bath with a push down ring to run the shower. This was quite a basic affair but useable.
Breakfast Breakfast in a bag then is a prepackaged kellogs cornflake bowl with some UHT milk, a small bottle of fresh Orange Juice, a croissant, packet of jam, plastic knife, banana and a disposable cup with more sachets of tea/coffee and milk. I don't know why there was no butter… should have butter with a croissant shouldn't you, anyway breakfast does the job and the banana was perfectly ripened.
Family facilities Just a note then. The room had a bed and a settee in, the settee looked to have a pull out extra bed. Stored in the bottom of the stairwell (not obstructing anything) was a travelcot, so I recon they're able to cope.
Prices. Travelodge's standard room rate is £55.00 and applies at this hotel. For this rate you get: "Family Room (Non-smoking) Ensuite room with double bed, sofa and pullout. Sleeps 4 (maximum 3 adults).". If you check out their web site you will see that there are currently 500,000 saver rooms £26 and 100,000 Super saver rooms at £10. These have to be booked in advance and you need to search on their site for them. If you find a time and location that suits you then you could get a bargain (or a super bargain).
The Breakfast in a Bag is £4.00 or you could take the five minute walk to Morrisons for one of their superb breakfasts (but thats another review in itself)
Conclusion This was a nice Travelodge as I'm not normally a fan but it did just seam a bit dated, no swipe cards (which are also often used to turn lights, telly etc off thus saving electricity and helping the environment), no Wireless network, no facility to set the temperature on the shower. The lack of associated cooked breakfast facility is a definite minus point as well. However great staff, very clean, very handy for amenities and also a very easy journey to Microsoft Campus (without going back to the M4) as well.
I really think that they should look to their main competition that does tend to be more up to date and also put those biscuits in the room.
22 Feb 06 Edit - Prices section added, thanks COOOEEE for the feedback
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