Travelodge - Inconsistent standards
 

I decided to use Travelodge a few times on my recent trip to the US and would like to share my experiences of this hotel group. The first night I stayed at Travelodge Los Angeles airport on West Century Bld. The hotel is basic, the room was quite comfortable and clean, the staff were friendly and helpful and the breakfast adequate. There is a Dennys right next door which is convenient as the area does not have cafes or restaurants close by. For a one night stay I would use this hotel again but only if needing to be at the airport for a very early flight.
I also stayed at Travelodge Monterey, Nth Fremont St. not the downtown one, this one is a couple of miles out from the downtown area but I found the bus service to be good and was able to go to all the places I needed to. This Travelodge was excellent, very comfortable room, good area, pleasant staff, (I was able to use the internet for free with unlimited time) and the breakfast was good. I would certainly recommend it to those on a budget.
The next Travelodge I used was in San Francisco at the airport. It is right next door to the BART station with a small shopping centre opposite and a large food market and plenty of restaurants within reasonable walking distance. It could not have been more convenient and staying out in the suburbs is preferable to me travelling on my own. I used the BART train each day without any problems. The hotel rooms were comfortable, the breakfast was good but the staff not so friendly plus I received a bill with higher charges than was quoted to me when I booked. On protest the bill was altered to reflect the right charge but I was not pleased and would advise anyone to check their account carefully when paying. Despite this I would be happy to stay here again because the location is so good.
The last Travelodge I used was again in Los Angeles but this time I stayed at the El Segundo one. I would not recommend this place to anyone. The two receptionists were surly and arrogant and completely unhelpful. The room was a bit shabby except for new carpet and furniture but the linen was old and tired and the pillows lumpy and needed replacing. There was no literature in the room as to facilities or where any eating places were or transport information. when I asked the receptionist, his reply was, 'we don't do that', I felt like saying, no because you are too lazy. In the end it was the tour driver on my day tour the next day who told me where the closest restaurant was and gave me all the info on bus service etc, so a huge thumbs down to this Travelodge who need a good kick up the derriere. As they seemed to be re-tiling the breakfast room, there was no breakfast as such but a few muffins in cellophane bags bought at the local service station it would seem. In other words it was a couldn't care less attitude all round.
My question is, are all other hotel chains as inconsistent as this one obviously is?
My other accommodations were with Microtel, Brock Plaza in Niagara, Phoenix Park in Washington and B & B's in Canada which in the end were the best value for money and the most pleasant to stay at.

Travelodges tend to be low end in the US - better than most Motel 6 (but there are some quite nice Motel 6's) but towards the bottom of the food chain.

So to get 3 out of 4 to be pretty much acceptable would be beating the odds.

Some travelodges are modern, well maintained and good value. Others are - well, the El Segundo one is a perfect example. (I doubt any fodorites recommended that one)

Depends on the chain.

Travelodge is a very old brand. Some of their properties are very old and some news. Service is not very consistent. Same thing for chains like Days Inn, Comfort Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada, etc...

If you want consistency, better stick with "newer" brands that are part of a major hotel chain. New meaning creation from the last 15-20 years. For example, Hampton Inn (from Hilton), Fairfield Inn (from Marriott), Holiday Inn Express, Four Points by Sheraton, etc, in general provide a much more consistent product among hotels in the same chain.

Yes, I know what you mean and at the end of the day I prefer nice B & B's but unfortunately when travelling without transport there are very few convenient to the cities in the US so hotels are the only option.
There seem to be more B & B's in inner city areas in Canada than the US.
To be honest it gets boring seeing one hotel after another everywhere you go in the US all exactly the same design and clones of each other. This is where the Brock Plaza and Phoenix Park were a breath of fresh air, each with their own character. I can tell you that travelling on one's own is expensive when having to pay the same price as two would pay in a hotel, another plus for the B & B's who usually have single prices at most places.

They are franchises, to the best of my knowledge, and your experience reflects that. Best Western is the same way. I don't know how the franchisors check on their franchisees, but I have noticed that some places that were BW one year were something else the next year.

The are franchises and are defiitely bottom of the barrel - so I'm surprised you did as well as you did.

You're right the newer budget chains are cookie-cutter - they have to be - that's the only way to make money when charging such low rates.

As for B&Bs - they're never really caught on that much in the US. There are lots of inns in the countryside - but usually quite upscale. And city economics don;t lend themselves to B&Bs - not to mention all sorts of local zoning and fire laws that make then difficult to run at a profit.

I usually stay at Travelodge, Days Inn or Quality Inn when I travel. I'm cheap and don't really care for B&Bs.

All of these are franchises as NYTraveler states. As such, you run the same risk as getting a "good" Denny's as a "bad" Denny's (franchises).

What I have found is that the ones that are built as Travelodge (Days Inn, etc.) are usually better than those that are "turned into" a Travelodge.

Also, it depends on the quality of the area. Some areas just aren't that nice to begin with, and a hotel rarely outshines the neighborhood.

I usually do a lot of research before selecting my hotel since I'm going lower end. I look for comments about the area and the age of the hotel. I usually shy away from ones that talk about being "converted from an old hotel" because that usually means the rooms are small and dark.

So far, my most negative experience was one Quality Inn where the room smelled slightly moldy - however, the town had been flooded 2 weeks before my stay, so I felt it was understandable. I stayed there a second time and there was no problem.

i'd say that Travelodges are pretty consistent. Pretty consistently BAD. Kathy got lucky to have hit so many decent ones in the same trip.
You really have to do some homework when using Travelodge, Days Inn, Howard Johnsons and Econo Lodges. Check for AAA approval and read reviews. Even in the cleaner ones, if the price is very low, the problem is sometimes not the cleanliness of the place as much as the clientele in the rooms on each side of you.

tracys2cents, you are so right about the clientele in some of these lower end budget hotels. That's where you'd really need to know the neighborhood it's in.

For myself, I stick with Hampton Inns and Holiday Inn Expresses; never been disappointed in either. I've tried a couple of Best Westerns lately that were very nice, as well.

All your comments were very interesting and enlightening. I did six months research and looked up reviews etc and as you say probably did strike it lucky in the most part except in my opinion for a person on their own the prices are still above what these places are worth realistically. Mainly I was concerned with access to places I needed to go and in this respect did very well in the end.
Someone mentions Best Western, that reminded me of another experience I will share. I went to Kings Dominion amusement park in Virginia with friends for a weekend two weeks ago and we booked at the Best Western in the park area for convenience. What a joke this place is, it's a disgrace, the walkways were filthy and covered in bottle tops and spilled pop, the room was not cleaned properly, the blanket had holes and rips in it, the bathroom was not cleaned properly and on and on. I did not want to even sleep there. I went to the management without my friends' knowledge and made a big complaint, they knew the establishment was not up to scratch and humbly gave us a large credit on our bill, you can imagine how pleased my friends were. It may be a family hotel with lots of kids staying but no need to drop standards to this level, it was the worst ever. I know that many Best Western hotels are excellent so it is a pity this one is really so very bad.
Someone mentioned Dennys, that is very amusing to me because as I said Dennys was next to the first Travelodge I used in LA and was a bit of a life saver when I arrived. There is also a Dennys attached to the Best Western at Kings Dominion and what a joke that is, nothing wrong with the food but the service was something else, they could not cope with the inexperienced staff they had, the chef in the evening was on his own as one did not show, the waiters were foreign students on working holidays and had not had any good training, it was a riot of the Keystone Cops kind. But don't misunderstand me, because of this, we had the biggest laughs and the most fun with the staff you could ever imagine, their Keystone Cops performance had us entertained the whole time and we had a lot of fun with them. We even had photos taken with them. We turned it into a positive experience but I can say, others who had been waiting far too long for their meals were walking out with faces like thunder, they were not amused and rightly so, this place is another that needs to get it's act together.
However, overall my trip was unbelievable, fantastic in every way, the people in the USA and Canada are the nicest you could ever meet anywhere and I loved all of it, I have so many stories and experiences. I was there last year also but this time took in places I had not been to before as well as my favourites like Toronto. But most of my time was spent in West Virginia, what a gorgeous part of the world this is, the little towns with such lovely people, the beautiful scenery, the national parks and the wildlife, and of course the wonderful Greenbrier Resort.

Kathy, I've heard that about some Best Westerns (not good) so I was reluctant to try the ones in Dillsboro, NC and in Carmel, Ca but trusted friends said they were great so we tried them, and they were great! Apparently, quality really varies in that chain unlike Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inns.

Glad your trip was overall great!

Hi elsiemoo
You are so right and I would imagine if any were not so good in Carmel they would quickly disappear, as someone else pointed out it also depends on the area. And what a lovely little place that is, wow, you are making me want to take off again! Alas back to work until the next adventure.

Best Western is NOT a chain - franchised or otherwise. They are each independent and individually owned and operated w/i their own rules, rates, quality etc.

Best Western is simply a marketing consortium of independent motel operators.

janisj, I guess if they all have the same name, I think of them as a chain ... very misleading if it works the way you say it does.

Not misleading IMHO. That is the way Best Westerns have always been. The "chain" was established in 1946 as a group of motels that referred guests to each other.

That is basically what they do now - only on a MUCH larger scale.

According to Best Western's website, they are the world's largest hotel chain. Even though they don't "franchise", some courts have ruled them to be a franchisor.
They are all independently owned, but agree to the same standards and policies. We have found them to be rather consistent & clean. With 4000 members agreeing to uphold certain standards, if your motel isn't up to snuff you face the rath of all your fellow members. I imagine that they quite often convince each other to clean up their act. Interesting that Best Western is actually a non-profit membership association...and that they have all but pulled out of New Zealand lately considering it too small a market to maintain a membership base. (This is all on their website & on wikipedia).

I also don't think of them as a chain. I don't see how they have to hold any standard, unless that standard is very very low. Because in Europe, most BW are 3* to 4* real hotels - I recently stayed in one in Sicily which is the largest and nicest hotel in that town - while here in the US they are usually old motels.

tracy2cents is correct. See this link:

http://www.bestwestern.com/

I'll take Best Western's word for it. :)

I agree with what I've read here and wish to add that the only chains which I have found to be consistently good are Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn.

A Best Western, Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, Residence Inn, Hyatt Regency, Courtyard, etc. may be the best place in town or a huge disappointment.

Have to say I've stayed in Hampton Inns and Residence Inns for years, and never found one to be a disappointment! Each one might not have been perfect, but always very nice in most ways. :)

While I agree a little research can go along ways into the quaility of a place. Something overlooked by many is checking the dates that a review was given as some maybe quite outdated as alot can change in an area in a couple of years. I don't feel it is right to lump all of the budget hotels of any chain as good or bad.

the fact that the OP had a few good experiences with Travelodge might hint that the abundance of reviews now readily available to everyone has forced some of the lower-end chains to clean up their acts.

While I think the reviews may have helped with some locations, I don't think it's fair to say that they're the reason there are any nice Travelodges, Days Inns, etc. out there at all

Yes, they are lower end hotels, but millions of people have used them over the years and there were just as high a pecentage of decent ones 30 years ago as there are now.

I would rather stay at a chain where standards are consistent from one property to another.

Twenty some years ago I stayed at a very nice Motel 6 in Bend, Oregon. Later I booked a Motel 6 in Topeka, Kansas, where the room clerk did business from behind a bullet-proof window and where I received no housekeeping service.

Also, some years ago I booked at a Day's Inn in Florida and complained to the desk clerk about pubic hair on one of the pillows. He came to inspect and suggested I was out of line for complaining because, "There is only one hair."

I'm sure Motel 6 and Day's Inn have some very desirable properties; however, I no longer do Russian Roulette when booking motel rooms.

I don't disagree with you HTTY, but I know a lot of folks can't afford to go that next step up.

For the price, Travelodge and Days Inn are a pretty good hotel chain (I find Quality Inn to be a step down). But, if you're going to use them, you have to do your homework - you can't make assumptions that they are all equal.

If you realize that and learn to interpret reviews, etc., you can manage quite well at this level.

No chain really guarantees the same quality at every property. I have more than once found hair in the bath or on the bed in high-ish end places and in budget chains. The on-site manager is the biggest influence on service/cleanliness whether at a Marriott/Hilton or a Days Inn/Motel 6.

Sorry, but some motel chains (e.g. Hampton Inns) have 100% satisfaction guarantees, and I know from experience that they honor those guarantees by giving full refunds when they fail to meet their standards.

Hilton, in my experience, does the best job of maintaining standards, and other seem to agree. The July 27, 2007, edition of USA Today had an article about motels with highest customer satisfaction. Of the six or seven chains listed, one was the Ritz-Carlton three were from the Hilton family of hotels: Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, and Hilton Garden Inn.

&quot;<i>Hilton, in my experience, does the best job of maintaining standards, and other seem to agree.</i>&quot;

interesting, since I have TWICE been comped a night's stay at Hilton's because of the unacceptable conditions of rooms. Same as happened once in a very low-end Extended Stay America.

So as I said - sure there are 100% satisfaction guarantees - and they satisfied me by giving me free nights. I would have much rather had a decent room to begin with and not had to move twice.

Lack of consistency among hotel/motel chains is a big pet peeve of mine. We are conditioned to expect consistency when buying a national brand and I believe that shady motel operators use this expectation against us. When better to have consistency than when you are traveling far from home and giving those that you are depending on for a decent place to sleep your credit card number in advance for a room sight unseen? You would think that the higher quality franchisees would lobby for enforcement of standards, but I do believe that many hotel/motel brands will allow anyone willing to pay the franchise fee to fly their banner. You can buy a consistent McDonald's burger anywhere in the country (franchise locations or corporate owned), but hotels are the Wild West. That said, I do agree that the Hilton brands are very consistent.

I too wish that there were a bit more consistency with hotels. We have had a so-so Hilton in FL, a good Motel 6 in CA, a bad Best Western in CA, but an awesome BW in France, rotten Ramada in OR, great Ramada in Canada, etc. I will say that I like these boards, and Trip Advisor, to help with hotel decisions. At least hearing first hand accounts really helps to filter down the choices. But after our Days Inn and Ramada experiences in the states, my husband said no more second chances for those. Not in the states anyway. Travelling...it IS an adventure in more ways than we sometimes imagine.

I've stayed in more than my share of lower end chains. The thing is to get one that meets your needs and expectations.

We do work in Montgomery, AL yearly. Stayed two years at a new Comfort Inn. Nice place and all, but the neighborhood was awful. We decided next time to move north a few exits and stayed at an older Econolodge. Not as nice inside, but you could walk to several restaruants and not worry about who was hanging out in the parking lot.

It's a matter of location in choosing lower end motels, knowing the neighborhood so to speak.

I find AAA guidebooks the most reliable way to have a decent chance of a good night in a motel/hotel.

Each property is considered individually and range from international resorts to some terrific mom-and-pop places.

I like Hampton Inn and Residence Inn for an overnight but have a hard time with the plastic smell.

Ackislander, I'm glad AAA has been good luck for you. Not for me; I've come not to trust them at all. I do, however, like their discount! :)

I agree with elsiemoo.

I find AAA GuideBooks useful for hotels about which I have other information. For instance, when they give the locations of a Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, or other chain with which I have had good experiences.

However, they aren't helpful when it comes to Best Western's or mom and pop places and, I regret to report, that when I have informed AAA of a miserable experience at a recommended place they go through a lot of paper shuffling but only update listings with additional lies elicited from the property owners over the telephone.

Don't waste you time letting AAA know about letdowns in their publication. Take the 10% discount and save your breath.

Well, fellow Fodorites you had a field day on this one and all your comments were interesting, the final analysis is that hardly any are consistent. As someone said when you are booking from in my case 6,000 miles away, it's a hit and miss but you must book and know that when you arrive there is a bed waiting somewhere, especially when staying near an airport. Of course it's quite different when travelling by car, if you don't like what you see you go elsewhere.
I wonder if anyone has experienced a worse hotel than the one I had in Paris. I booked at a very nice hotel but on arrival they informed me they didn't have my booking. The clerk offered to find another and I think he must have been having me on because the one he did book was something else. It was up a dark flight of stairs, the small office was on the first floor and the rooms on the second. The room was dingy, dark and stinky. I refrained from using the shower. I had just arrived after a flight from Geneva and not really in any mood to go hunting for another. The madam that owned it was just that and on going into the room I found three tiny towels with large holes in them, in other words there wasn't much towel at all. I took them to her office and complained and as she was on the phone she literally threw me another three, these ones had smaller holes. She wanted five nights payment and I told her she could have one night, I already knew I was off at the earliest. The whole place gave me the shivers. I then walked about 5 square miles of Parisian streets looking for another and of all the luck after enquiring at about twenty found myself at a suitable one right beside the Olympia theatre where I happened to be going to two concerts that week. How convenient was that? I returned to the first disaster after going to the Musee D'Orsay as it was their late night. The bed needless to say was indescribable, it sloped not sideways but long ways so I constantly found myself sliding out the bottom. I think it was stuffed with straw. I got up at 5.30am, got ready to leave and crept out at 6.30am, gave the key to madam who snorted some remark as I gingerly went down the stairs trying not to break my neck. I hailed a taxi on Rue Rivoli and turned up at the new hotel at around 7.15am much to their amazement. I had a very nice stay there for five days and amazingly enough ran into some friends from Germany there. I also met two other friends who had come to this first hotel the day before to see me and were too scared to come up those dark stairs so went away. So the experience in the USA as you can see pales into insignificance when I remember this experience.
But just to finish you all off, friends were on a guided tour through Europe and they were taken one night to a Holiday Inn in Germany. Imagine their disgust when they turned down the bed to find a used condom in it, so much for quality hotels. Obviously the bed had only been pulled up from the previous occupiers, the linen had not been changed at all.

Sorry guys, I meant the hotels aren't consistent, not your replies!!

We have stayed in over 30 different motels so far this summer in our travels and have found the consistency varies widely with different motels within the same chain, individually owned or not. Cost is not an indication of a quality place to stay either. One motel we stayed in that cost $135 charged 25c for a bucket of ice and no coffee in room. Another one just as nice for $49 offered free ice, in room coffee and breakfast. One Days Inn was so bad the manager refunded our cost the next morning after we pointed out the problems and showed him the letter in the room guaranteeing the room or your money would be refunded. The problems were brought to the attention of the front desk the night before but were not corrected.. In fact the night clerk gave us a bogus name for the manager. I don't think he liked that much when brought to his attention. Other Days Inns with the same style letter in room were just fine... Another problem, ashtrays in Non-Smoking rooms. Makes you wonder.