I mentioned in my previous post for my two excited loyal blog readers that I had decided to stay in Wales rather than Bristol as it was just cheaper to do so. I took this photo standing outside of Newport railway station and it gives an indication of the length of the walk. I think even my friend Richard could manage this sort of walk.
There was no-one on reception when I arrived, but I could hear the receptionist on the phone to her friend in the back office. I then heard, “I’ll phone back in a bit, just got a customer” and since she said it in a way that didn’t sound annoyed, I didn’t feel like an inconvenience. This is, I think, the very summit of modern hospitality.
And the receptionist was rather friendly, chatting away about how to get in the hotel if I stayed out late, which wasn’t relevant to me, but I obviously looked like someone that went to nice pubs a lot so I was pleased as there are worse personal brands to have developed.
These are the newly designed Travelodge rooms and I rate this whole set-up, as long as the prices are affordable anyway. The room was clean, functional, modern and was comfortable, so that’s pretty much everything sorted.
There was quite a lot of external noise from drunk women shouting in the evening, but I rather like city life and didn’t find it problematic. I also had a fan on my window and there it is in the photo…..
I had a little look at the reviews as I like doing that and they’re not great on Google…..
“Honestly, this has to be the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in. I know it’s cheap and you get what you pay for but I would rather have anything else than this. The place was dodgy from the start. I was given the key card by a man without uniform, nevwr asked me for my ID, just the name. The room was clean but could see a lot of broken or stained things as shown in the photos. The place also seems like a gathering place for the local alcies as they were right by my windows. I also booked the hotel through work and it was meant to include breakfast. This place has no restaurant so breakfast was a box that contained a stale pain au chocolat, a flap jack and some cereal. Will never see me there again.”
I’ve looked at these photos and I can’t see any staining, it’s not entirely clear what someone wanted from the arrangement. And I’ve never been asked for my ID in a Travelodge, just my name and address. I often don’t have any ID with me anyway, so I don’t want to be asked.
“Would AVOID!! Council are housing undesirable people here, got zero sleep as people were running up and down corridor at 3am, police were there !! Music blaring out of some rooms, if you want a peaceful restful night this is not for you.I had an 8 Hr drive the next day with little sleep. Be aware.staying here.”
Undesirable people is perhaps a rather loaded way to describe anyone.
“AVOID AT ALL COSTS… customer service shocking and really not helpful at all!! We were booked in here 26/12/25 for one night only whilst we were visiting family..one family member asked where we had booked so we told her and she said DO NOT STAY THERE!! She works local to the travel lodge and said it’s a drug den and been raided with on going issues!”
If it was a drugs den it was a very well kept secret from me, although that would hardly interest me unless they were dealing in crisps or something. Well, maybe some decadent craft beer I suppose, although I don’t tend to buy that in hotel corridors. It feels a little sub-optimal to be offered a mixed fermentation saison by a man standing near the lift.
Most of the reviews on Google aren’t actually negative and on TripAdvisor it’s all much more positive. However, nearly every review on TripAdvisor names a staff member which is this guilt trip thing they try on me of “if you could leave me a positive review and mention by name then I get a bonus” which feels really quite unfair of the chain to me to make their team members do this.
Anyway, I found the whole stay to be positive enough, it was clean, quite internally and I didn’t see this den of iniquity that others discovered. For a cheap stay it feels like a very viable option and it worked for me as a cheaper alternative to accommodation in Bristol.