Travelodge London Docklands

I wouldn't recommend this hotel to holidaymakers, but if you're on a short trip and need to visit the O2 or the Excel centre, it's perfect. Buy the breakfast online with a discount or get it as part of a deal with the room and it's a bargain. I would not pay for the breakfast at reception. There are facilities to make coffee in your room, which doesn't taste too bad. You can pick up breakfast snacks near the DLR or at the service station about a 5 minute walk away.

If you do buy the breakfast, it's actually worth the money if you or your friends/partner like a cooked English breakfast. I just ate the croissants and muffins, but it was nice to have the choice, The trick to getting breakfast to yourself is to go relatively late in the morning, around 9:30 am (breakfast runs until 11!) That way you miss the morning rush on tube, anyway.

There isn't really anywhere to eat around the hotel - but you are in London, so you could just get the tube and eat in some brilliant restaurants; we went to the Bento Cafe in Camden.

The room is very basic and the fabric on our sofa was worn. There was limescale in the toilet bowl, but this is difficult to get rid of in London because Thames Valley Water is very hard. Otherwise, the room, towels and linen were all very clean. The rooms are also quite big for a budget European city hotel. The plumbing and shower strength are better than what I have at home.

The staff are quite friendly, though we did get some funny looks when we left the room in fancy dress. The bar was open until late and was reasonably priced by London standards. The selection of drinks wasn't brilliant, but I've seen worse. Annoyingly, when there is a band playing at the O2, they will play music by that band in the bar all day. Green Day were playing when we stayed, and now I don't want to hear any Green Day again for a long time.

I am someone who goes to London about 3 or 4 times a year on a tight budget. I have stayed in Association Youth Hostels before to cut costs. Although hostels are value for money, so is this place. If you book early enough in advance, this hotel costs only slightly more than some hostels and you get your own room and bathroom, instead of sharing with 5 strangers. I might not need that YHA card for a while!

We were apprehensive after reading some of the reviews on here, but had a pleasant surprise. The room was adequately clean, the shower was hot and powerful enough and the bed was very comfortable but could have done with more/bigger pillows. It was very convenient for the DLR. Breakfast was busy but still very organised compared to other hotels we have stayed in. We also had an evening meal which was delicious and very reasonably priced. Would highly recommend as an affordable hotel for visiting London.

This place had come in for some criticism from other reviewers so I was slightly apprehensive about staying there, but I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it's basic and there are more comfortable places to stay in London, but I'd have to sell an internal organ or two in order to be able to afford such accomodation. It's a Travelodge: you have to expect it to be basic. As long as it's comfortable, clean and the staff are helpful - all such criteria were fulfilled - you can't go wrong.

It's easy to find from the DLR station (East India). Just cross the footbridge signposted for the town hall and it's just behind the big office blocks. It's a 2-3 minute walk. On the other side of the station, you have a supermarket that's open til 10pm (8pm on Sundays) where you can pick up some basic provisions. It's only six stops on the DLR to get to central London and the O2 Arena is just across the river, where you can find a number of restaurants and entertainment venues. All very convenient! The hotel has a perfectly adequate restaurant if you don't want to travel any further to eat. Again, it's basic, but reasonably priced.

The only criticism I have to make is concerning the toilets in the hotel's restaurant. The Gent's toilet was in a particularly unpleasant state - obviously, I can't comment on the Ladie's loos - and that could really put you off your food! Otherwise, I enjoyed my stay and I'll definitely stay there again in future.