Travelodge Stirling, Scotland

...from Manchester settled on the Travelodge at the nearest motorway junction, and along with bouncers from other unis pretty much booked out the place for the weekend apart from one lone family who probably didn't know what had hit them.

I've stayed in many Travelodges before, both here and in the USA, so knew what to expect, but was wondering whether the chain had undergone a makeover recently the way Premier Lodge and Travel Inn did ...
...of rooms reserved as the Travelodge had cancelled some of their rooms, apparently at their request. Happily we didn't have this problem, and soon had our old-style non-keycard keys (one per room). As we were leaving for the warm up, and the other bus load would be arriving in our absence, we left keys at reception for room mates to fit in which they were fine with. Additional keys weren't available but when you locked yourself out or found yourself ... more

Last weekend I went to Stirling with a few friends, and a few of my friends went with a few of their friends. In total there were over 500 of us in town for the annual Scottish student trampolining competition, and this proved a bit of a problem given the lack of budget accommodation in the town. To that end, 30 of us from Manchester settled on the Travelodge at the nearest motorway junction, and along with bouncers from other unis pretty much booked out the place for the weekend apart from one lone family who probably didn't know what had hit them.

I've stayed in many Travelodges before, both here and in the USA, so knew what to expect, but was wondering whether the chain had undergone a makeover recently the way Premier Lodge and Travel Inn did when they merged. Half of us arrived around 4pm to find chaos in the small reception, with the receptionist and some other club's bouncers engaged in a heated debate about the number of rooms reserved as the Travelodge had cancelled some of their rooms, apparently at their request. Happily we didn't have this problem, and soon had our old-style non-keycard keys (one per room). As we were leaving for the warm up, and the other bus load would be arriving in our absence, we left keys at reception for room mates to fit in which they were fine with. Additional keys weren't available but when you locked yourself out or found yourself without a key for another reason, the staff would happily let you back into your room with the master key, without even checking details which seemed a little on the under-secure side.

The rooms are all 'family-sized' and can supposedly sleep 3 adults or 2 adults and two children, though following the aforementioned booking fiasco this policy went out of the window, and the reception staff let 4 adults into each room without any fuss. You could also get around their limit by giving only 2 or 3 names when booking and sneaking in an extra body when you arrived since there's no way for them to check this, and most Travelodges are busy places with people constantly coming and going.

Each room had a double bed, a sofa bed and a pull out bed. The first of these was made up on arrival (and re-made daily) but the others were stripped, with fresh bedding available in the rooms. This came in handy in the evenings since our room was cold and it meant I could have not one but two quilts on my bed as we were an under-occupied room. The facilities in the rooms were basic and similar to those in American motels. TVs with poor reception for 5 terrestrial channels also boasted several pay-per-view channels including those of an adult nature. A hospitality tray included tea, coffee and milk but no hot chocolate or biscuits. Storage space was open, not portioned off with a door or curtain, and included both shelving and rails. The bathrooms were clean but showing signs of wear. The baths included extremely-hard-to-operate showers, and towels were provided for just 2 occupants though more were available from reception. We also had a heated towel rail - of note only because the sole in-room information provided was a leaflet justifying why rooms and facilities are on the basic side in the form of questions and answers such as 'why don't you provide hairdryers in rooms?' etc, and one of these was 'why do you NOT provide heated towel rails?' with the answer being because they're dangerous and can burn you…so it was quite bizarre that we had one of them in our bathroom after all.

The motel did not have conference rooms or a bar or a café of any kind. It offered a breakfast bag for £4 which included the bare essentials - a croissant, cereal and fruit juice - which would be delivered to your room at an appropriate time. A much better option would seem to be to eat out, but this is a Travelodge on a motorway, not a hotel in a city centre. It's about 3 miles from the centre of Stirling where you can find shops, restaurants and several large supermarket and there is very little within walking distance of the hotel other than those businesses co-located at the service station - namely a Burger King, a self-service café, a small newsagents style shop and a local tourist info / souvenir shop complex.

Our general impression of this specific Travelodge was that it needed a refurbishment or at the very least a thorough spring cleaning. The same could be said for the staff - they weren't incompetent, just unhelpful, and on two mornings we came across a few of the domestics standing outside the fire door smoking and gossiping, linen cart blocking the hallway.

Prices range here, and though special offers are available, they're severely limited. You can stay for £10 per room….if you go on Thursday 21st September and stay for just the one night. Useful. Typically, rooms are around the £45 - £55 night range, which for a family of four is pretty good going, even without a free breakfast, or any posh toiletries to stash in your bag.

Useful if you're passing through, or in town for a specific reason such as to win an embarrassingly large trophy (that would be me! It's huuuuge), but otherwise it wouldn't be high on my list of places to overnight.

http://www.travelodge.co.uk/find_a_hotel/hotel/hotel_id/222/StirlingM80 

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