The cost of travelodges. WTF!!

[Panatone]

I know the days of cheap accommodation in this country has long gone, but Christ, I can’t get over the cost of a travelodge.

It used to be our go to for a cheap weekend break away.
just back from a weekend in London. We went for a concert and added on a night.
we had booked ages ago and paid £140!for two nights.
I just looked for a weekend in September, and it’s £279 for two nights. It is central London, but even so😮

I’m not long back from a long weekend in a European city with a friend Paid £300pp for lovely central accommodation and flights.

@Panatone

I completely agree with you... Travelodge used to be as cheap as chips. My family and I had a short break about 10 years ago - and had two rooms in Covent Garden Travelodge - properly in the centre of London/West End... DH and I in 1 room, and the kids (teens then) in the one next door. We paid £39 per room per night for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday - I think the Tuesday might have been £49 ... I mean

I know you've got to take into account inflation but it's only 10 years ago not the 1980s! Taking into account inflation, the price of a room for the night, should not even have rolled over into triple figures by now, let alone almost £300 some nights!

You've got ones in ordinary places as well like Stoke and Telford and Crewe and places like that that, who are actually charging £200 a night on a Tuesday or Wednesday !!! With nothing in particular going on, except a particular pop band from the 1980s or 1990s are doing a concert, about twenty to thirty miles away. (Like Wolverhampton or Birmingham.) A band most people staying there aren't interested in anyway, and aren't going to see!

It's a lousy excuse to be charging three times more than they should be. I think it was £279 a night when the Cosford Air Show was on in Shropshire last month. For a f*cking TRAVELODGE! I mean, it's OK and all, but it's a TRAVELODGE. It's worth £40 to £60 per room per night, maybe £70-80 on a Friday or Saturday. No room in any Travelodge is worth triple figures on any day/night of the year. Maybe 15% more in the London area as I know they have to pay their staff more I think. But that's it.

I know everything's gone up these days and they have to pay the staff more etc etc, but this takes the piss, it absolutely does. As some posters have said, it's cheaper now to just go abroad. (Than it is to stay in a Travelodge!) It's also a moot point about 'everything going up' as I know 3 or 4 other hotels that are always half the price of Travelodge and sometimes less! So that's blown THAT point out of the water.

Travelodges are basic - and pay their staff national minimum wage too, AND there is only ever one person on at night, for the whole 8 hours, and often only one person (the SAME person) checking people in on reception, and also running the bar!!! so what's their excuse for the silly prices?

..... I do know someone who works for them actually - on reception, and she says she is stunned by the high prices too. BUT the advantage is that it keeps certain types of people away... The drunks who roll in from clubs with a woman they picked up, wanting a room for a shag, won't pay £250+ so they stay away now.

And also social services are not sending their problem tenants who have been evicted due to anti social behaviour there anymore. And also the police are not bringing people there who need a room for the night (often not been let back in their home due to being drunk/anti social behaviour.) They don't want to pay this price either.

All of the above cause the staff massive issues and problems, with their anti social behaviour. These prices are keeping them away, because the drunks, the council, and social services won't pay the exorbitant prices. So it's a benefit for the staff, but not for ordinary people who just want a cheap break in a not so much now budget hotel.

Walthamstow Travelodge is right outside the tube station and it's 15 minutes to Oxford Circus.

https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/580/London-Walthamstow-hotel

I have found the same. Travelodge seems to have increased in price more than its competitors. I used to stay in TL as they were cheap and cheerful but fine for just 1 or 2 nights if I was going to be out all day. This time I went for Premier Inn as they are a lot nicer and weren't much more expensive. I'm also staying for one night in a lovely B&B for £50 less than it will cost me at TL or PI.

Agreed. We have a race to the bottom mentality in this country for too long resulting in low wages and low economic growth.

They use demand led pricing systems that adjust prices constantly. So if there are few rooms available in London then they get priced very high. Rail strikes and big events tend to drive demand up. On the flip side there are often bargains to be had when demand is low. there are rooms available on Sunday nights for under £65 in central London

London In Sept is extortionate, that's par for central London at that time of year 😳

This of course its going to be premium rate, you need to book way in advanced for a good deal. We use premier inn but you need to plan ahead.

Going a Mon- Wednesday is usually cheaper for London.

£279 for two nights in central London isn't expensive.

This! People don't seem to understand how supply and demand works. If customers are happy to pay £200+ per night, then it's obviously priced correctly, and is not "extortionate". It's just basic economics.

I'm not remotely surprised that a Travelodge in central London would cost well over £100 a night. This is not unusually expensive for a major world city.

We needed to book a single night in Amsterdam at the end of August, and there was hardly anything to be had for less than €300. A budget "EasyHotel" was £580. Several guesthouse/hostel type places wanted >£1000 for the night - clearly ridiculous and maybe related to specific events in the area, but illustrative of the point that high costs can occur in big cities at times.

We paid £200 for a premier plus room at Premier Inn Fort William recently. Must admit it was very nice with a mountain view rather than a car park. The Premier Inn across the road from Old Trafford was a bit bleak and depressing though.

We've booked a Premier Inn hub (small room) near Victoria next Friday for £139. I thought that was ok.

We tend to book Premier Inns primarily now, too, when we travel at weekends. Travelodge has lost the plot completely in regards to pricing.

DH currently in a TL in Shropshire, booked 3 days ago and was £53 for flex pay at hotel on day booking - I guess it's a case of supply and demand

Yes - we recently stayed in a holiday inn where previously we stayed in a premier inn - same price but aircon in the room (I know some PIs have this but not the one at this place) and a swimming pool.

We paid £250 for one night in a Premier Inn in Farringdon in January.

Travelodge are rip offs. The cost of them makes me angry.

And for what? The most basic of rooms with often cosmetic damage and at worse a blood stained mattress (as I had on my last visit to one 🤮 ).

OH is getting 4 nights in a 4 star hotel in Prague (B and B) for a lot less than he just paid for RO in a Travelodge in E London. Gone are the days when they boasted of rooms for £29 a night!

We frequently stay for work in London at either the Clayton in Gunnersbury (nice hotel and good rooms) and near tube, often pay around £122 -

I find Premier Inns quite expensive now, but the more annoying thing is that they often insist on two night stays. I thought the point of them was to offer flexibly reasonably priced accommodation.

I use them quite frequently despite the price hikes as you know what you are getting and they are still fairly reasonable, relatively speaking, but it annoys me when I have to hunt around for one that will accept one night stays.

B&Bs can be a very good alternative, although they sometimes also have minimum night requirements (one person said it was because they don't like changing the bedclothes every day, but that particular B&B will let you have the room for one night if you pay an extra £10 - works for me!). Bed and Breakfast Nationwide is a good website.

I work in a large hotel chain and hate the asking for payment part of check in (if not prepaid). Even though people expect the amount 99% of the time, there is still that 1% that either forget or hope it drops in price somehow and completely baulk at the prices, usually the last minute bookers are the ones that get the shock.
I have to say though, they do compensate staff well. On top of pay being above living wage we also get £15 rooms if we book with hotels owned by the same company.