I recently had a stay in the Travelodge at Newmarket Road in Cambridge as I was in the area on some “blogging business”. Possibly also known as meeting up with some other bloggers from the surrounding areas to have a bit of a get together and a night off from blogging, yippee!
I was a bit apprehensive at first, as I had recently read that Travelodge had been a bit of a nightmare, however I’d never had a bad experience with any Travelodge before and so I was somewhat determined to kind of prove that they really aren’t all that bad.
Upon arrival I were greeted at the desk by a lovely lady called Aura, and the manager was also present. She was very kind to ask if I had been in Cambridge before just as she was handing over a map of the surrounding area. I politely declined it as I usually know more or less how to get around Cambridge and mostly where things are, and we had already set out where we were going to be going anyway.
She was very helpful and explained which room I was in, and on what floor, when and where breakfast was and then went on to detail check out times, leaving me open to ask any questions. I asked her if she could book me a taxi for 45 minutes later and this turned up promptly, which was great!
The room was much bigger than I had anticipated. I had been booked in to stay in a family room, as a couple of us had decided to share, and it was so generous! As you can see it fits in a huge king sized bed as well as two further singles. I was most impressed that there was already an iron and ironing board in the room, as well as a hair dryer. You usually have to ask for these to be brought up to your room, but they were already there when we got in.
The room was at a pleasant temperature, which I always think is quite important. I’ve stayed in a few hotels before where you walk in and it’s either absolutely roasting hot, or the air con is on full whack, so it was quite nice to have it just right. Equally, the view wasn’t too bad either. While it’s not the prettiest, it’s not exactly the ugliest and there’s plenty of blue sky to take in! I’ve had hotels with a building next door and literally no view, so this was quite nice. It made it feel that bit more open!
The bathroom was really clean. There’s an overhead shower, a nice big mirror and towels are provided. It’s pretty standard, and there’s nothing luxurious about it, although the shower is pretty good! It really pumped the water out, so I was pretty impressed with that. There are shower gel and shampoo dispensers if you were to forget your own toiletries! The only thing I would say is that there’s no lock on the door. However, it is a family room and I can understand that, but for friends who are sharing the room or for families who would prefer the extra bit of security in knowing they’re not going to get walked in on, a door lock would’ve been nice!
The breakfast area was really open, light and spacious. You weren’t that close to any other table, which was nice! We did wait a little while before being let through, but once we were in you couldn’t stop us. You’ve got the choice of a full breakfast or a continental and naturally we went for the full breakfast!
The breakfasts were separated into different areas; cereals, yoghurts and fruit then breads and croissants, followed by tea, coffee and juice machines, finished off with the hot full breakfast on the other side! It’s very much a buffet and you can go up as many times as you like, which is great because we left with rather full tummies! I thought the selections were really good and vegetarians and vegans are also catered for.
One thing I would say is that the sausages could be labelled as there are two lots, one vegetarian and one meat! I ended up with vegetarian ones on my plate first as they were the first sausages I came across before realising there were two lots – oops! It was all well cooked (no wet scrambled egg or slimy mushrooms here) and was lovely to eat!
So, overall.. would I stay again? Yes, without a doubt! Would I recommend people who are visiting Cambridge to stay here? Yes. It’s in a great location with excellent links into the centre of Cambridge and it’s pretty much right next to the Grafton Centre if you fancy a spot of shopping. Thank you Travelodge for a wonderful stay!
