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Accommodation suggestions and reviews

D6130

D6130

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If anyone should find themselves visiting Firenze/Florence on an Italian jaunt, I can recommend the Hotel Leonardo da Vinci in via Guido Monaco. Situated on the West side of the main Santa Maria Novella station - less than ten minutes walk from the main entrance - it also has a tram stop nearby on line T2 to and from the airport. It's a fairly humdrum, featureless modern four star hotel....but the rooms are clean and well-equipped with good showers and free toiletries and slippers - and it has an excellent buffet breakfast bar in the basement. The staff are very friendly and helpful, as well as multi-lingual (including English). The big attraction for rail enthusiasts though is the fact that rooms 410-413 - and possibly also the corresponding rooms on the floors above and below - have balconies with a panoramic view of the platform ends and station throat, with almost constant train movements to watch, photograph or video....including the remaining D445 workings to Borgo San Lorenzo and Siena thrashing their way out of - or coasting into - the station. The room windows and balcony doors have efficient double glazing....so - if you really want to block out the railway noise at night - you can easily do so. The last time we stayed there - just before Christmas - we had a good deal on Booking.com for 120 Euro including breakfast....which is very good value for such an expensive and touristy city.
 
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Haywain

Haywain

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Tune Hotel, Liverpool

Another bargain priced establishment, my double room cost £36 for the night. The hotel is located roughly halfway between James Street and Moorfields stations on a street that is blocked to traffic. The room was on the first floor at the front of the property and surprisingly spacious. The en suite was quite compact but that isn't an issue, and there were hangers for clothes and a desk and chair. No tea/coffee facilities at this price but coffee could be bought at reception. There is a Greggs right next door and a range of bars, restaurants and coffee shops nearby but noise was not a problem.
 

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Kite159

Kite159

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Sophisticated Silcoates, Wakefield

Another room in a shared house style accomodation. I've used this place before and it's located less than 10 minutes walk from Wakefield Westgate station (north west) just off Silcoates Street. 5 rooms in the house with 2 small kitchen areas (1 downstairs, 1 upstairs). All rooms are en-suite. Self service check-in (where you get text/emailed the door access code for the front door & also the code for the room door with phone support available until 8pm.

Both times my room was a reasonable size with a double bed, this time I was in room 4 on the top floor which overlooked the road so it was a bit noisy at times when cars came racing past (it is Wakefield after-all, speed limit is stricty optional). Biggest drawback (other than the steps on the outside to the front door) was the window blinds not being wide enough for the window so they allowed a thin line of light to escape round the edge (wasn't such a big issue when I was in room 1 downstairs as that was at the back so didn't have street lamps) but was a bit annoying.

Would I use it again? Yep, but only if the price was right, and sadly looking ahead for the rest of the year it seems the price has jumped from ~£33 a night to ~£55 a night, even as far ahead as September/October time [was looking at a 3 night stay from Friday - Monday and the cheapest I found was £165. So either the management company has hiked prices up full stop or just hiked the prices on Booking.com
 
Butts

Butts

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Staying at Travelodge Glasgow Airport - not too bad and an easy 10 min walk from Airport well signposted.

Surprised to find Travelodge only offer 30 mins Free Wifi and it's £3 for 24 Hours, thought this was a thing of the past.

Are all Travelodges the same in this respect ? Premier Inn is free as far as I remember.
 
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JonathanH

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Butts said:
Surprised to find Travelodge only offer 30 mins Free Wifi and it's £3 for 24 Hours, thought this was a thing of the past.

Are all Travelodges the same in this respect ?
Click to expand...
Yes, that is the standard offer on WiFi at Travelodge.
 
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Blindtraveler

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Yes sadly t l Wi-Fi is chargeable for everybody, admittedly once you have paid up it's not too bad but there are less and less places charging for it now and they are likely to get left behind sooner rather than later, all the more annoying as the one I seem to have stayed at most recently and and booked into for three nights in April has truly rotten phone signal and therefore if you don't have Wi-Fi especially in your room then your on a bit of a blackout, certainly if you're on any 02 based network
 
Kite159

Kite159

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Maybe one day Travelodge will join Easy Hotel in providing free WiFi, even if going down the Premier Inn route of having a free option which is limited and a paid-for version to allow streaming of videos etc (maybe given free if you book one of the Travelodge Plus rooms (or whatever they call the slightly posher rooms these days).
 
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Blindtraveler

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If available and not too huge a step up in price the Travelodge super room does appeal to me and I do use it, like I say if not too huge a jump in price but amazed as you say that even now they are still charging super room guests for Wi-Fi access. I noticed that Britannia group are starting to roll out some refurbished more premium rooms at some locations and their very expensive not worth it eight pounds a day Wi-Fi is included in the cost of those rooms, how long will it be until someone more mainstream like Premier Inn or Travelodge follows this example
 
Haywain

Haywain

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Blindtraveler said:
how long will it be until someone more mainstream like Premier Inn or Travelodge follows this example
Click to expand...
What example, free wifi? Premier Inn already offer free standard wifi and "ultimate" wifi in the Premier Plus rooms.
 
trainophile

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I can never understand the demand for hotel wifi. Don't most people have a decent allowance built into their mobile contracts these days? Even if not, I find that many websites won't let me connect to them via public wifi, presumably as it "thinks" my personal data would not be privacy protected. If you really need wifi when travelling why not get a portable modem gadget, an affordable couple of gigabytes should be enough for most needs, unless you're streaming endless TV or movies.
 
Butts

Butts

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trainophile said:
I can never understand the demand for hotel wifi. Don't most people have a decent allowance built into their mobile contracts these days? Even if not, I find that many websites won't let me connect to them via public wifi, presumably as it "thinks" my personal data would not be privacy protected. If you really need wifi when travelling why not get a portable modem gadget, an affordable couple of gigabytes should be enough for most needs, unless you're streaming endless TV or movies.
Click to expand...

Not everyone has got a smartphone :?:
 
Kite159

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trainophile said:
I can never understand the demand for hotel wifi. Don't most people have a decent allowance built into their mobile contracts these days? Even if not, I find that many websites won't let me connect to them via public wifi, presumably as it "thinks" my personal data would not be privacy protected. If you really need wifi when travelling why not get a portable modem gadget, an affordable couple of gigabytes should be enough for most needs, unless you're streaming endless TV or movies.
Click to expand...
Some hotels might have crap mobile signal which makes using mobile data unrealistic. Pretty sure some of the inner rooms at the Ipswich Easy are like that.
 
Whisky Papa

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trainophile said:
I can never understand the demand for hotel wifi. Don't most people have a decent allowance built into their mobile contracts these days? Even if not, I find that many websites won't let me connect to them via public wifi, presumably as it "thinks" my personal data would not be privacy protected. If you really need wifi when travelling why not get a portable modem gadget, an affordable couple of gigabytes should be enough for most needs, unless you're streaming endless TV or movies.
Click to expand...
In the UK for UK subscribers - sure, mobile data should be sufficient, and personally I've no problem with Travelodge not offering free wifi when I'm often paying less than £30 a night.

Go abroad, or for foreign subscribers staying in the UK, and mobile data can be a very expensive option. Fortunately my provider O2 still offers free data roaming in the EU, but when I visit the USA, it has to be wifi only.
 
Butts

Butts

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Whisky Papa said:
In the UK for UK subscribers - sure, mobile data should be sufficient, and personally I've no problem with Travelodge not offering free wifi when I'm often paying less than £30 a night.

Go abroad, or for foreign subscribers staying in the UK, and mobile data can be a very expensive option. Fortunately my provider O2 still offers free data roaming in the EU, but when I visit the USA, it has to be wifi only.
Click to expand...

Travelodge is the first Hotel I've stayed at on my jaunts over the last few years, including many foreign climes, that charges for WIFI :!:
 
trainophile

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Bletchleyite said:
What websites are those? I've never, ever come across that.
Click to expand...
Can't remember offhand but I'm sure I've had "unable to establish a secure connection" on some occasions when my wifi is connected to a train co's. I do connect to those when my Three signal is out of coverage and I need to check train connections etc. I'll come back to this discussion next time it happens!
 
Whisky Papa

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Butts said:
Travelodge is the first Hotel I've stayed at on my jaunts over the last few years, including many foreign climes, that charges for WIFI :!:
Click to expand...
I'm really not sure what point you are making? I think most posters on here, including me, would say (or have already said) the same.

The worst experience with free hotel wifi I've had was in a B&B located on the top floor of an apartment block in Pisa, which proved utterly useless. After a few seconds of browsing, it reverted to the home page of the service provider, featuring an image of a cheery mixed-race couple who, after six days, I began to hate the sight of with a passion! Back then I didn't have the mobile data available that I do now, and it added an amount of stress that is the last thing needed on holiday. I was glad at least I had researched and printed summary timetables for our planned journeys.
 
Butts

Butts

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Whisky Papa said:
I'm really not sure what point you are making? I think most posters on here, including me, would say (or have already said) the same.

The worst experience with free hotel wifi I've had was in a B&B located on the top floor of an apartment block in Pisa, which proved utterly useless. After a few seconds of browsing, it reverted to the home page of the service provider, featuring an image of a cheery mixed-race couple who, after six days, I began to hate the sight of with a passion! Back then I didn't have the mobile data available that I do now, and it added an amount of stress that is the last thing needed on holiday. I was glad at least I had researched and printed summary timetables for our planned journeys.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that I was in Pisa in January.

Eurostars Hotel Toscana - bit of a magical mystery tour from the Station.

Nice Breakfast and rooms, supermarkets nearby for provisions and good free WIFI.

As I don't have a smartphone I always travel with tons of paper itinerary et al.
 
Travelmonkey

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I had a good stay in Hull recently between a few first class train journeys (LNER 225 TPE 185 & Hull Trains 802) and needed a overnight stop, I chose the Village Hotel a but out of the centre but had a massive room and a lovely swim in the pool they have downstairs before bed and then again in the morning. It was all rather pleasant tbh.
 
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route101

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I have stayed at that Travelodge at Glasgow Airport. Its one of the older style ones but often has reasonable prices at short notice. Glasgow Airport appears have older style hotels nearby.
 
Willie Bee

Willie Bee

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Premier Inn Leeds City Centre (Whitehall Road)

My wife and I have just stayed here and would certainly recommend it.

It's only a 5-minute walk from the railway station, as long as you exit from the north end of the station (the old section)
 
Willie Bee

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Premier Inn Glasgow City Centre (Buchanan Galleries)​

My wife and I have stayed here and would certainly recommend it. We are going there again in a few months .. in fact, it was only yesterday that I managed to book our tickets. I used the RailUK ticket site, which gave me the option of having a slightly longer connection break in Edinburgh.

This hotel is only a 6-minute walk from Glasgow Queens Street (according to Google) but I am sure we were faster than that.
 
Willie Bee

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Hub by Premier Inn (Edinburgh Haymarket)​


My wife and I have had a couple of 3-day breaks here and are going again towards the end of the year. Although the rooms are small, you can opt for the 'bigger rooms' for not much more money, which is what we do.

Being one of the Premier Inn 'Hub' hotels they do not offer full breakfast .. but for £5 each there is the continental option .. porridge, cereals, yoghurt, fruit, toast, crumpets, pancakes, croissants .. certainly Ok for us.

The hotel is a 5-minute walk from Edinburgh Haymarket railway station (HYM) so in some cases, a train ticket can include a separate train here from Waverley Station. There are bus / tram options too
 
Willie Bee

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Hub by Premier Inn (London Goodge Street)​


My wife and I have had a couple of mini-breaks here (2022 and 2023) and are going again this August. We recommend it 100%

Although the rooms are small, they aren't too bad and anyway, we were in London to see the sights, not sit in the hotel.

For the price, we found the hotel perfect. It's in a decent area too, so we had no worries if / when we returned to the hotel in the dark (Nov 2022)

Being one of the Premier Inn 'Hub' hotels they do not offer full breakfast .. but for £5 each there is the continental option .. porridge, cereals, yoghurt, fruit, toast, crumpets, pancakes, croissants .. certainly Ok for us.

The hotel is a 2-minute walk from Goodge Street Underground station and a short bus ride (buses 73, 390) from Kings Cross station.
 
Willie Bee

Willie Bee

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Premier Inn Liverpool City Centre (Liverpool One)​


My wife and I stayed here a few months ago and would certainly recommend it

The hotel is a 5-minute walk from Liverpool Central station (LVC) and perhaps 10 minutes (if that ?) from Liverpool Lime Street station. (LIV)

Close to the shops and near enough to the dock area and the ferry.
 
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route101

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Anyone noticed how expensive Travelodges and Premier Inns are in Ireland? Both Belfast and Dublin. I guess its down to supply.
 
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Blindtraveler

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Anyone looking just for a day trip I would thoroughly recommend the Birkenhead Belfast ferry where the fares do very slightly as they are yield managed but the price of other services such as food and accommodation on board are fixed and The cabins of extremely reasonable both in terms of price and quality

Word to the wise, if they have Bush mills whiskey on the optics in the bar you might see less of the cabin than you intended
And the 05.30 wake up call could come as a bit of a shock
 
MasterSpenny

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Hampton by Hilton (Stansted Airport)
This airport hotel I stayed in for a night to catch the flight I caught on the morning of Saturday, 6th of April, 2024. I personally found that it was a bit funky. It has a bar, and a breakfast buffet which is great. I would personally suggest this hotel for staying in if you’re planning on a morning flight (I find it better to this), or want to spend two days or more plane spotting. Some rooms have an airside view as well, which in my opinion is good for people mad on seeing planes.
 
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