Travelodge Chichester Central

Gina and Denia were friendly, great hosts, and shared a laugh or two. The location is very central and the rooms were clean. But I slept badly in a hot, stuffy room with no air conditioning. If you’re booked for the week starting June 22nd, check the forecast, especially with a heatwave expected. Of the three Travelodges I stayed in last week, this one cost £36 more per night and was just as hot and stuffy. There’s no bottled water in the room either, you have to buy it from the vending machine downstairs.

We booked two double rooms on the third floor for one night. The decor was nice and the rooms had recently been refurbished, but the heat made them almost unbearable. The windows only opened about 2cm for health and safety reasons, so there was no airflow. The curtains were closed when we arrived, and although there was a fan in each room, they weren’t switched on and only pushed warm air around. There weren’t enough spare fans for every room, and the ones we had felt very cheap. We all slept terribly. At 5am I found my husband had moved to the bathroom floor because it was slightly cooler, and my daughters slept under wet towels to try to stay cool. Before our stay, I called Travelodge customer service to ask about air conditioning because of the hot weather and was told there was air conditioning. We learned on arrival that it only covered five rooms. If I’d known that, I’d have brought fans from home. Travelodge needs to put guests’ welfare ahead of profit. When we left, we told Gina how we felt and said we felt sorry for her, as it was only May and summer might bring more of this weather. She was apologetic and understanding, but has a hard job ahead if managers don’t make changes quickly. Gina, the receptionist, was lovely, professional and polite, and helped us with parking.

The room was small but acceptable, and the location is just across from the cathedral. Still, I gave this Travelodge one star because it now offers only 30 minutes of Wi-Fi before charging, turning it into another profit centre. That’s completely unacceptable and has put Travelodge on our global do-not-use list. It’s a shame the company wants to squeeze out every last bit of money. We’ll spend our hard-earned pounds, dollars, won, yen, NT and euros elsewhere.

A disappointing place to stay. Don’t count on ventilation, water glasses, a hairdryer or even Wi-Fi. It’s near the Cathedral, but the area still feels dodgy. They told me the top floor gets very warm and has limited air, so always book a first-floor room.