Travelodge Covent Garden – Review of the 3-star hotel in Drury Lane, Holborn

Photo: Craig Cross

Craig’s review… As soon as I arrived at the Travelodge Covent Garden I knew I wouldn’t like it. It looks like an ugly concrete office block, like a 1960s tower block – the kind of block that has a busted lift and some kicked-over dustbins out the front (it doesn’t – but that’s the first thought that entered my head when I saw it).

Checking-in at the Travelodge

When you walk through the door it gets even uglier – like a student union bar. It took me ages to check-in and then when I tried to go upstairs their dog-eared cardboard keycard wouldn’t open the lift. So I trooped back to reception and she fixed that, and then I went back upstairs and discovered that she hadn’t given me a Wi-Fi code either, so back down I went and she sorted that out.

When I finally had a look around the room I found it to be totally unique in that – of all the hotel rooms I’ve ever stayed in – this is the only one that when you open the curtains absolutely nothing changes. The grey wall outside my window totally blocks out the sun so it stays the same gloomy room that it was before.

Inside a room at the Travelodge Covent Garden

Photo: Craig Cross

I hate this place already and I’ve only been here for thirty minutes. I’m lying on the bed watching the car lights creep across the ceiling. I was staying at the Ibis this week (another 3-star hotel), and a Premier Inn before that, so I know exactly what a decent 3-star is like, and this isn’t it.

Photo: Craig Cross

The bathroom has a shower in it (no bath), a toilet and a towel… which reminds me… have you ever noticed those signs in hotel bathrooms which say “Help save the planet! We will only wash your towel if you leave it on the floor.” Well that annoys me as well (everything is annoying me now). That has sod all to do with saving the planet and more to do with keeping the hotel’s laundry bill down. They just slap all of that eco-nonsense on there to guilt trip us into re-using a damp and dirty towel.

You get a TV with a very sparse selection of channels. They don’t even bother to give you Freeview channels like Dave. And there’s no way of bringing the time up either (so no wake-up alarms). Now I know why rock stars throw their TVs out of hotel windows – it’s because they stayed at a Travelodge.

You get a waste paper bin. You get a tubular chair. You get a kettle with two teabags. That’s it. You don’t even get a bedside table! The nearest table to the bed is a three-foot desk four-feet away. So if you want to relax back with a cup of tea then your only option is to balance it on your head.

Breakfast in the Travelodge restaurant

The restaurant reminds me of Sainsbury’s staff canteen. I used to work the nightshift and it has the same plastic chairs, big silver tea urn, and a shiny metal serving desk full of dried-up scrambled eggs that have started to curl up at the corners because they’ve been sitting under the hot lights too long. Yum yum. They offer sausages, bacon and beans as well, and a plate full of bread and cereals.

Hotel’s location near Covent Garden

The only decent thing about this hotel is its location because it’s only two-minutes from the top end of Shaftesbury Avenue. Covent Garden is about five minutes away and you’re within easy walking distance of Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square.

Worth a stay? ★☆☆Value for money? ★★★Nice rooms? ★☆☆Good location? ★★★

The author Craig Cross owns city-guide.london and has spent the last decade reviewing the capital’s landmarks, attractions and hotels. His guidebook London Squire is available from Amazon. This review was updated on 30th August 2023