Travelodge and Ibis shame at filthy hotel report
An undercover investigation into the cleanliness of the UK’s budget hotels has revealed blood stained duvets, soiled mattresses and stray fingernails at some of Britain’s most visited chains.
The discoveries were made by an undercover reporter and microbiologist for Which? Holiday magazine during stays at the UK’s five most visited budget hotel chains in Manchester and London. While rooms at the Premier Inn, Comfort Inn and Jurys Inn were all found to be relatively spotless, instances of ‘appalling’ levels of dust, urine-splattered toilets and ‘grubby and rundown’ rooms left Travelodge and Ibis open to a scathing attack.
The Travelodge on Grays Inn Road in London was found to contain a carpet thick with dust, a grimy handprint streaked down one wall and urine splatters around the bathroom’s toilet, while a room at the Kings Cross Road site contained a stained mattress, flaking walls and a grimy, handprint streaked down one wall. All three London rooms investigated raised concerns over the level of bacteria found in the bathrooms.
The investigation made its most ‘disturbing discovery’ however at the Ibis hotel on Charles Street in Manchester, where the mattress had been so badly spoiled it had begun to grow mould. A second Ibis in Portland Street in Manchester also contained a blood and tea stained duvet, sticky surfaces and an ‘unpleasant smell’ from the telephone receiver.
Lorna Cowan, editor of Which? Holiday, said a single accepted standard for hygiene in UK hotels should be implemented to avoid such issues raised by the report. “Although this investigation was just a snapshot, it does raise concerns about the cleanliness of some budget hotel chains,” she said. “It’s clear from our research that some of the hotels are getting it right when appropriate cleaning methods are being used. Paying guests should be guaranteed, at the very least, a clean room.”
The startling discoveries come at a time when cash-strapped Brits look closer to home for their holidays to escape the rising cost of travelling abroad.
Travelodge have said they take hygiene standards ‘extremely seriously’ and have now investigated the issues raised by Which? Holiday’s report. A spokesperson for Ibis said the hotel group has also addressed the complaints made by the investigation team, and accepts that ‘there were some points made from the Which? visits to our hotels which showed standards were well short of the levels we expect.’
