We had a sad visit a week or so ago, to Crawley about three hours drive away so too far for a there and back jaunt. We booked to stay in a Travelodge – and we have stayed in their hotels a few times, the most memorable was on our trip to Tasmania. This is part of what I wrote about it:
We had a week in the Hobart Travelodge, then went on a tour round the island for about ten days, then back to the Travelodge where we stayed for almost a month. In that Travelodge we obviously had one double room with an ensuite shower and bathroom, a wardrobe, a hanging space/storage space, a little kitchen unit comprising small fridge, small food/crockery space and cutlery draw a sink and a microwave oven, a vanity unit, a wall-mounted TV, two bedside cupboards and a double bed with just enough space to walk round and get dressed without bumping into anything. So it was small and compact, a huge window and a lovely – no, a spectacular view!
The Travelodge in Crawley obviously didn’t have the kitchen area, but it was a standard double room with all we required and a very comfy bed. It was huge, tall as well as wide and I did have to stand on tip-toe to get into it. W ate in the restaurant which was fine, then retired to our room and read the newspaper, read our books – husband a real book, me on my little iPad. I also did some writing on it, before sleep overwhelmed me and I snuggled down. The next morning up early, breakfast, pack all our stuff, check everywhere to make sure we’d not left something, handed in the keys, thanked the receptionist and left.
It was a couple of days later that I couldn’t find my iPad, and there was the dawning realisation that despite checking round, I’d somehow left it in the hotel. I rang them, they said they would check but nothing had been handed in, I thanked them, I rang off. The following day I rang back, sadly no iPad. I left my number, and began to think I’d have to get another. A couple of days later, a phone call – iPad had been found under the bed! It was a divan type, so someone would have had to get down on their hands and knees to find it. I had a chat to husband – maybe we could go back to Crawley, call in at Winchester on the way home and spend the day there… but he had a lot of gigs coming up, and one thing and another… Another phone call from Crawley, could they have my address to send it to me! Joy! Could I have details of how to remit postage – oh don’t worry, they said, all part of the service! Well done, and many thanks to Travelodge.
I’ve had to book another Travelodge, and then the reason for the visit changed and it wasn’t just me but husband too so I rang back to change the booking. In a way I wasn’t surprised by the very helpful and friendly person taking the call, who smoothed everything out quickly and efficiently. Dear Travelodge, you do have some splendid staff!!
My featured image shows our view of Hobart from our Travelodge window.
Lois Elsden 