Saturday 22 November 2008
Travelodge 1 million £26 rooms
Posted on Fri 1 Jun 2007, 19:35 in Hell
1 Million Rooms at £26
Travelodge advertising stretches the truth.
The advert looks simple and enticing. You might even think you could book just one of their "1 million rooms" for £26.
Log on to their website and try it for yourself....and then the reality behind their advert soon becomes clear.
“Available on selected nights at all hotels and subject to availability at time of booking.*
Only available online.
Pay in advance.
Non-refundable, non transferable.
£26 rooms must be booked at least 7 days before date of arrival."
I do not believe Travelodge even have 1 million rooms in the UK.
The £26 rate is only on limited offer at 7 days notice. Further restriction apply as the rooms are non-refundable. None of these points are made clear in their advertising.
Once again Travelodge treats UK consumers with contempt. Advertising a product that doesn't really exist and hoping that dumb guests will just pay more for less than they expect.
Basically, the product advertised is not generally available, and their web sales methods require the customer to pay more than the advertised rate and accept onerous "no cancel / no refund" terms.
Think carefully before you use Travelodge. Vote with your feet and maybe they will eventually change their ways.
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The advertising standards authority responded to my complaint and came down on the side of Travelodge. They felt that a billboard advert is allowed to have impact and minimal information, and that the travelodge website contains adequate information about the offer.
So basically you can say what you like on a billboard, and then change the detail on your website.
The only thing I can do is vote with my feet, and I haven't used a tevelodge in 4 months now - other hotels get my business. I feel better for it!
Very similar to travel agents shop window, too good to be true.
I would rather stay in a flowery B&B at £30 with a fresh hot cooked breakfast.
My main problem with these Travelodge type places is the architecture, design and style or the complete lack of it just like our housing developements. Travelodge and others build horrible buildings and the decor and rooms are something like prison cell block H. Then the standards of food is why us Brits get labelled as the pits of cuisine. All nearly frozen and thrown in the deep fat. This is the 21st centuary why are the standards so low in the UK.
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I'm also struggling to see how they arrived at a figure of 1 million rooms. They certainly don't have that many between their UK hotels, and if the billboard is to believed this offer stands indefinitely so they can't be saying "we have 1000 rooms available for 1000 nights" either. I suspect poorly-considered marketing.
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