Trafford Park for my Travels! (Travelodge Manchester Trafford Park (Manchester))

Member Name: kellya1

Product:	Travelodge Manchester Trafford Park (Manchester)
Date:	27/03/07 (632 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, friendly, large sized room

Disadvantages: No frills

When needing a hotel to stay in a hotel for my Watford away travels to Manchester Utd, I wanted something nearby ground, and the shopping centre and reasonably priced. Luckily Travelodge was running a special price for their newly opended Trafford Park branch. It has been hard to avoid seeing the Travelodge saver deals on offer and so I checked out the Travelodge website, and low and behold, they were offering a reasonable deal…

*** Location ***

You certainly need a car if staying here! The hotel is just off junction 10 M60, past the tulip Inn and the regional sports complex Keep going left and you will find the hotel. Be aware this road is newly built and not accessible on sat nav (at least not on my N60!)

If coming by plane or train;

Manchester Airport - 8.8 miles
Urmston Train Station - 1.8 Miles


*** Places to go ***

This hotel could be used as a stopover, or base for a short break because of it's location;

Trafford Centre - ½ mile
Manchester United FC - 4 miles
Old Trafford Cricket Ground - 4 miles
Manchester City Centre - 6½ miles
The Lowry Centre - 5½ miles


***** The Deal *****

For 1 nights stay in a double room in this hotel on a Tuesday night in January the price was £26 room only. The room was non-smoking, and included a bath which sometimes affects the price (showers only are generally cheaper). As I mentioned earlier, you can often get saver rates around the £15 mark but these must be booked well in advance and are usually unavailable on a Saturday night. Even so, it was very reasonable! Why so cheap? Well, according to Travelodge's research, most people staying in a hotel simply want a clean, comfortable place to get a good night's sleep, and are happy to forgo the unnecessary "frills" offered in other establishments. This means that they cut out the additional costs such as toiletries, biscuits, extra towels etc.


*** Check in/out ***

We checked in at 10pm with no problems at all. I handed them my confirmation, and my credit card, and after tapping a few keys on the computer, we had our key and the receipt. All done in 10 minutes! The staff were polite, but not over helpful in directing us to the room, but it was well signposted so no complaints there!

Checking out, again no problems here, we just handed the key over at 11am (check out by 12pm) a semi-friendly 'goodbye' was offered and we were on our way.


*** The Room ***

The hotel is brand new, and has around 50-100 rooms from what I could make out. We had a double room overlooking the river. The room was light and airy, overlooking the car park to the front of the hotel, although quite small in size. It had a double bed, a couch, tea and coffee making facilities and a remote control TV with the terrestrial channels (although for £6 per day you could watch the films on offer, the same ones as the sky box office).

Again the bathroom was basic, it has what you need including a bath and a shower. Bring your own toiletries, as you will only get a bar of soap! The décor was again bright, and airy and quite clean compared to some hotel bathrooms I have been in! The only problem we had was that there was not enough hot water.


*** Food & Drink ***

This Travelodge has no restaurant or bar; however, there are a plethora of restaurants such as Nandos and bars in the Trafford Centre, so you will not go hungry! They do offer a 'breakfast bag' for £4. It includes a fresh banana, croissant and Kelloggs cereal pot (complete with spoon and milk) as well as orange juice and a large cup so you can take coffee or tea from your room with you. You can collect it from reception, or just order at reception the night before and they can deliver it before 7am to your room. I opted not to have this as I believe it is over-priced (and I would prefer a greasy bacon sarnie!).


***Summary ***

As I mentioned previously, the Travelodge is more of a hotel for stopping over, rather than a base for a week long holiday. In terms of quality, you get what you pay for; whilst the check in was smooth, and the room comfortable, and adequate for what we needed, I actually missed the extras such as the mini toiletries and biscuits! In addition, there was only one towel per person and I need two - 1 for my hair and 1 for my body. Overall, I would recommend this if wanting to visit the Trafford Centre, or wish to watch a football match. However, I would prefer to pay a little more for those extras and be pampered!

Travelodge Manchester Trafford Park Hotel
17 Trafford Way, Urmston,
M17 8DD

Tel: 0870 191 1838
Fax: 0161 747 7419

Summary: A great hotel perfect for an ocasional stopover