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Accommodation suggestions and reviews

Peter Mugridge

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8 Apr 2010
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Epsom
Travelodge, Porthmadog.

First time I've used a budget hotel for a family holiday... and probably the last, but would be very likely suited to a Cambrian Coast / Ffestiniog / Welsh Highland basher as it is a reasonable walking distance from the Cambrian station ( and only 20 - 25 minutes walk from Harbour station ) and it's cheap ( family of 4, seven nights, middle of August, £396 ) plus there's a very good greasy spoon just 2 minutes walk away where you can get a proper breakfast, but...

Let down by the curtains. So thin they might as well not be there; so much light leaks in that it's impossible to go to sleep quickly and as soon as it's dawn you wake up again. The bed and pillows are comfortable, but that's not a lot of help if it's possible to read at night with the lights off and the curtains drawn is it?!

However, as I say, it's low cost and ideally located for bashing purposes...
 
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Kite159

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Travelodge, Walsall

A new build hotel (so had AC/multiple plug sockets with USB sockets), around a 7 minute walk from Walsall station. Next to a 24 hour McDonalds & a Tesco Extra. Let down by the curtains not being quite large enough to cover the window and also the room I had was on the road side so was a bit noisy at times [but I suspect it will be 50/50 if you get given a room on the opposite side]. I would return if the price was right (and depends why I'm in Birmingham).

Travelodge, Hackney Central

An older hotel, and similar to Walsall the rooms can get noisy from the road. Located pretty much outside Hackney Central LO station, I didn't see what was around the neighbourhood as I was out early morning for the Enfield Town service which goes into the rare platform 3. Depends on price if it comes up again, and also what I'm doing the following day.
 

Peter Mugridge

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Epsom
Travelodge, Walsall
Let down by the curtains not being quite large enough to cover the window and also the room I had was on the road side so was a bit noisy at times [but I suspect it will be 50/50 if you get given a room on the opposite side].

So it's not just me having curtain issues then!

As to the room aspect - do what I did; e-mail them in advance to guarantee a room on the better side of the building.
 

IanD

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Newport Pagnell
I always give the actual Travelodge/Premier Inn (or any hotel I've booked online) a ring and ask for a room that's on a higher floor or at least not above the main entrance as that's where the smokers tend to congregate and chat at all hours which means you have to keep the windows closed. At the same time I'll ask about traffic noise but if I end up on a higher floor it's not such an issue.

Also, if I'm driving I'll ask about parking - the suggestions on the TL/PI website for city centre hotels with no parking are not always the best. Local knowledge of the hotel staff can be very useful. I saved £26 on parking charges during a 3 night stay in Swansea earlier in the year thanks to their recommendation. I'd only paid £48 for the room for 3 nights due to a generous discount TL were offering and cashback from Quidco, so an extra £26 for parking would have increased the cost by almost 50%.
 

Cletus

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Dover
Was recently at the Eastleigh Travelodge.

Right across the road from the station, so if you are in a facing room, you get good views of the station and yards either side. Train noises - obviously ;) - and the odd plane.
 

route101

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16 May 2010
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Travelodge Birmingham Bullring .

Not far from Moor st . Got a high level room with a good view north . Area a little dodgy . Quiet at least .

Premier Inn Birmingham Waterloo St

Central location . Room was massive , older property. Only one night but was woken by awful noise from the pipe ductwork
 

route101

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Wembley High Road Travelodge
I sometimes stay here on occaisional nights in London.Obviously any events at Wembley stadium increases prices ; does get fully booked at times as only a small (2 floors ? ).Obvious advantage is thats its on top of Wembley Central station (served by London Overground to/from Euston and Watfrd Junc, ),as well as Bakerloo line and some LM trains and in Zone 4. Oposite small Tesco, usual fast food outlets nearby ,and Costa coffee on the corner. On many bus routes.

Stayed at that one at the weekend , £30 for a Friday night stay ,
 

HOOVER29

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26 Mar 2009
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482
Any ideas about nice hotels around the Kidderminster area.
Stayed at the Gainsborough hotel Kidderminster. Hotel ok. Prices didn’t seem too bad but after it had all been added up, lunch, breakfast, bar bill, ouch!!!
 

Kite159

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27 Jan 2014
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West of Andover
A couple new places stayed for me this month

Hatters Hostel, Liverpool

Located around a 5-10 minute walk from Lime Street (slightly closer to Liverpool Central), in the city centre, so ideal for a location if arriving late/early start. The hostel rooms were quite well designed, it wasn't a case of bunk beds thrown in a room with some lockers which I've stayed in, the beds were built in featuring lockers in the bed area, plus USB/Power Sockets along with a little shelf & private light, and curtains. Although my room had an annoying buzzing noise coming from a nearby alarm box and I had drunkens idiots crashing in around 3:30am but I was expecting that when I arrived at midnight to find the room empty but with bags. Bonus was an en-suite bathroom.

Duke of York, Stockport (South)

Located around a 5-10 minute walk from Davenport station, but served by the route 192 bus route (Piccadilly - Hazel Grove P&R) which seems to be roughly every 10 minutes, even with some night bus services so well connected. It is a room above a 'drinkers' pub, nice en-suite bathroom (although no towels or soap provided) and a comfy bed. There was some outside noise but that was limited to heavy vehicles (although no doubt if you have a room on the road side it will be a different story). Exit via the fire escape in the morning, certainly a place I will be using again if in Manchester for a couple nights as Manchester area can be expensive on Saturday nights.
 

HOOVER29

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482
Anyone know of decent cheapish hotel(s) in the haymarket area outside Edinburgh?
Must be near station & have parking
 

AndrewE

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Anyone know of decent cheapish hotel(s) in the haymarket area outside Edinburgh?
Must be near station & have parking
That's almost asking for the impossible in a city centre (Especially Edinburgh) - and Haymarket isn't "outside Edinburgh!"
 

HOOVER29

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482
I shall look on line then
Thought some one on here may have stayed at a decent hotel within a few minutes of Haymarket with free parking & would be willing to pass on their knowledge.
Only visited the area twice in the last 30 yrs so I’m not familiar.
If a can get the train cheap enough I will otherwise I’ll drive the 300 or so miles from Leicestershire.
 

dave87016

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Lancashire
Anyone know of decent cheapish hotel(s) in the haymarket area outside Edinburgh?
Must be near station & have parking

Edinburgh Haymarket Travelodge can be cheapish especially thursdays 5 mins walk max from Haymarket station and I had a great sleep and lovely breakfast
 

AndrewE

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Edinburgh Haymarket Travelodge can be cheapish especially thursdays 5 mins walk max from Haymarket station and I had a great sleep and lovely breakfast
I was curious so I checked up: the 2 car parks they list charge £16 or £28 per day! I'm not surprised though, it's in the middle of an expensive city.
 
Last edited:

Egg Centric

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Land of the Prince Bishops
My apologies if a thread like this already exists but I didn't find one.

I think it would be useful to recommend decent hotels in close proximity of stations. Not looking for anything premium, just Premier Inn type stuff.

Glasgow Central: Motel One. A couple of minutes away - literally has connecting walls with the station. High standard of cleanliness. Very germanic. Main disadvantage is no beer on tap (although well stocked hipster-type gin bar)
 

bramling

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My apologies if a thread like this already exists but I didn't find one.

I think it would be useful to recommend decent hotels in close proximity of stations. Not looking for anything premium, just Premier Inn type stuff.

Glasgow Central: Motel One. A couple of minutes away - literally has connecting walls with the station. High standard of cleanliness. Very germanic. Main disadvantage is no beer on tap (although well stocked hipster-type gin bar)

Glasgow Central - Grand Central Hotel is a decent place, although I did have a bit of a bad experience with an issue with the room, and some quite bad grace after asking to be moved to a different room. Hotel is very convenient for the station.

Plymouth - Duke of Cornwall Hotel - gem of a hotel in my experience, although sadly Plymouth Millbay station is gone so the hotel is now some distance from Plymouth station.

Bradford - Victoria Hotel - pretty good and convenient.

St Ives - Tregenna Castle Hotel - nice hotel with excellent grounds, few minutes walk from St Ives station. Spot some GWR drain covers in the grounds too.

Hull - Royal Station Hotel - rooms a bit small but very convenient being on top of Hill Paragon station.

Newcastle - Royal Station Hotel - superb hotel and quite modestly priced for what it is and where it is. Only small issue is limited car parking. Rooms can be a bit hot in summer months.

Stoke on Trent - North Stafford Hotel - directly opposite Stoke station. A fine hotel on the outside, but sadly rather tatty on the inside. Convenient location and a decent size car park.

Buxton - Palace Hotel. Unlike most of the above this was never a railway hotel. Convenient location and well sited opposite station. However in all honesty I wouldn’t recommend as the place is a bit of a geriatric home, with decor to match.
 

Sheddyone

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4 Jul 2016
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Halesowen
A couple of stations that spring to mind:

Birmingham New St - Easy Hotel, John Bright St (SW exit) or Britannia Hotel (at your own risk!), New St (NE exit). Both within a couple of mins walk.

Exeter St Davids - Great Western Hotel on the station forecourt. B & B with a real ale bar.
 

Bletchleyite

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Glasgow Central: Motel One. A couple of minutes away - literally has connecting walls with the station. High standard of cleanliness. Very germanic. Main disadvantage is no beer on tap (although well stocked hipster-type gin bar)

Motel Ones are really good for the price wherever you find them. They just show cheap doesn't need to mean rubbish (yes, you, Travelodge). They are basically the German concept lifted directly to the UK which means you even get European sockets in some places!
 

Djgr

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A traditional railway hotel that I (and the whole of Liverpool) would recommend you avoid is the Adelphi.
 

Techniquest

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Britannia Hotel (at your own risk!)

I concur with that. Horrible place to spend a night! Same for the Britannia place in Wolverhampton, oh my days both hotels are horrible. Even the grimmer hostels in London (there's one in Borough and one near Greenwich that I can't remember the names of right now, but immediately come to mind) could not be considered worse!
 

LA50041

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A traditional railway hotel that I (and the whole of Liverpool) would recommend you avoid is the Adelphi.

+1! this is possibly the worst hotel I have stayed in in Liverpool and up there with the worst in the UK
 

LeylandLen

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I concur with that. Horrible place to spend a night! Same for the Britannia place in Wolverhampton, oh my days both hotels are horrible. Even the grimmer hostels in London (there's one in Borough and one near Greenwich that I can't remember the names of right now, but immediately come to mind) could not be considered worse!

Had the misfortune to stay at Britannia hotel Princes St, Manchester last year. Not recommended, not that clean , esp as other hotels near.Premier Inn, further down Princess St away from Picc Station , was much better. Obviously prices can vary
 

Techniquest

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Had the misfortune to stay at Britannia hotel Princes St, Manchester last year. Not recommended, not that clean , esp as other hotels near.Premier Inn, further down Princess St away from Picc Station , was much better. Obviously prices can vary

Ah I think I did that one in 2005, booked it at the lastminute.com counter on platform 10 IIRC. Compared to hanging around Piccadilly station all night, it could have been worse!
 

richw

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Motel Ones are really good for the price wherever you find them. They just show cheap doesn't need to mean rubbish (yes, you, Travelodge). They are basically the German concept lifted directly to the UK which means you even get European sockets in some places!

we need a definitive good and bad Travelodge thread. The refurbed ones I find very comfortable
 

ChrisC

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we need a definitive good and bad Travelodge thread. The refurbed ones I find very comfortable

I find standard Travelodge rooms a bit too basic for me if it’s a stay of more than one night. It’s the lack of storage space, shelves and drawers to store clothes that annoys me. I don”t like living out of a case for more than one night.
Travelodge now have some refurbished hotels, mainly in large cities and tourist destinations which have one floor dedicated to their Super Room format. These have better furnishings, curtains, carpeting, comfortable chair, larger screen tv, coffee machine, better shower, better lighting and hot chocolate etc. The main advantage for a stay of more than one night is a shelf to store underpants and socks etc! I am not sure whether they should be charging approx £10 a night extra for a room with facilities which ought to be standard. It doesn’t improve paying for WiFi or standard of breakfast either.
I have used their Super Rooms at London Vauxhall, Leeds Central and Glasgow Queen Street and found them to bring a Travelodge room up to the standard of Premier Inn. Vauxhall and Leeds Central both have rooms right next to the railway tracks. I’m trying the Super Rooms at York Micklegate in December.
 

Techniquest

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Anyone had any good/bad experience with Airbnb , either in UK or elsewhere?

Only used Airbnb once so far when I did New York. All positive feedback, our host in Brooklyn and his brother were fantastic. Quick to respond to all messages, sensibly priced apartment in Brooklyn, no issues whatsoever
 

Kite159

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Dunes Hotel, Whitley Bay

A short notice booking due to my original accommodation getting cancelled due to the hotel failing a fire inspection (allegedly), so I was surprised to get a £19 room at a few hours notice.

Located around a five minute walk from Whitley Bay metro station (around half an hour from central station) with a few local shops (and a Spoons) nearby. I was made to feel welcomed and the room was quite nice. Basic but functional, ensuite bathroom.

Certainly one I would probably be using again the next time I'm in Newcastle, just need to be careful as the check in times is quite short (judging by the website)
 

56 1/2

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Which websites do Rail Forum travellers use when looking for rooms now that laterooms.com is off line
 

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