Travelodge Hartlepool Marina

There was no proof anyone had smoked in the room, and I’d made my so-called friend take all their things with them. I came out of the shower to find them smoking, which I know isn’t allowed in the hotel, and immediately told them to leave. As I was leaving, they told the receptionist that I’d been smoking too. The receptionist and security officer came knocking, then rushed past me and said I had to leave. She checked the window frame and said someone had smoked. I told her I’ve never had even one cigarette in my life, I’m 42, and she could smell my breath if she wanted. She said, “I don’t care, you have 5 minutes to get out this hotel.” This was at 2am, leaving me nowhere to go but sleep in the car on a freezing morning. I used to work for Travelodge, which is why I’d made my friend leave. I wouldn’t have tolerated smoking there when I worked for the company. I barely slept, as it was below minus and freezing in the car.

We arrived already feeling uneasy after seeing a woman being arrested outside without shoes. We went in to check in at 11pm, and the police had to wait until we were checked in before investigating the incident. It gave me the impression there weren’t enough staff or security, and nobody helped. The room was awful. The corridor smelled of cigarette smoke, the room smelled musty, and it wasn’t clean, with stains, dirty drains and a dirty bin. Later there was screaming and banging, and loud hooligans causing a racket in the early hours. We were exhausted after travelling all day and had checked in late, so we just slept in the bed. The towels were disgustingly dry and unusable for my sensitive skin. The air felt stagnant, so despite the freezing weather we had to sleep with the window open. It was a chilling stay. Honestly, the stowaway primate that landed in Hartlepool during the Napoleonic wars seems to have had a better reception than we got.

The views are amazing, and it’s very close to the cinema and Asda. The walls are thin, so you hear everything, and when a drunk man was shouting at 2am, the staff didn’t do anything.

We got a good night’s sleep in a comfortable, quiet room with everything we needed for an overnight stop, including a decent Lavazza coffee machine. We checked in on the way to Scotland and left feeling refreshed, ready to continue the journey. We like staying at Travelodge, and the staff here were helpful and attentive, especially when I accidentally locked us out of our room.