Travelodge Oswestry

The staff are friendly and welcoming, and they even lent me scissors as long as I promised to bring them back. I did, ardent review reader, I did. Rooms have what you need, are clean and tidy, and the mattresses are great, though they’re now tired and the tiny TV is a relic. Mine didn’t work at all. This is a pretty typical Travelodge for a British traveller: rarely terrible for the price, but not likely to earn a rave review. It’s handy and cheap if you’re passing through, but not a good base for walking around. There’s no proper footpath to the petrol station next door, let alone into town. I’d stay again on the way to mid-Wales or if local friends couldn’t put us up, but it’s just fine if you need a place, not somewhere you have to visit.

It’s clean, tidy and does the job. This is a roadside Travelodge, not the Trump Plaza, so I’m not sure what people expect. I don’t really understand all the negative reviews, and the location is subjective. If it doesn’t suit you, don’t book it.

We’ve never stayed in a worse hotel in over 60 years, and we’ll never return. There was a flood in the lobby, causing a horrific smell in our room that affected my husband’s health. The entrance to reception and the hotel was filthy, with garbage, and rats were running around outside. They did give us a full refund for the horrible stay, but we still haven’t received it. They don’t answer phone calls or reply to emails.

Travelodge is usually pretty good, but Oswestry was far from their best. The hotel needs major improvements soon. It looked tired and badly in need of refurbishment, and finding it after dark was difficult: it’s tucked away at the back of a dimly lit service area car park. The heavy entrance doors aren’t automatic, which is annoying with luggage and probably impossible for someone frail or disabled. My first-floor room was number 22. The USB charging port beside the right side of the bed was broken, and there were no power sockets by the bed, so a laptop had to be plugged in across the room by the TV. The screen was cracked but still watchable. The bathroom hand soap dispenser was empty. Dust covered the wall above the bed, where a previous guest had written “DUST” with a finger above the light. The hotel WiFi was very slow, even though there were only a handful of guests.