Two friends told today how their stay at Travelodge turned into a “night from hell” after the bath filled with brown sludge and the ceiling COLLAPSED.
Leanne Jakeman, 23, and pal Amy Hardy, 22, were not warned of any problems when they checked into their £59 twin-room.
The best friends had travelled to Leicester Central Travelodge to stay during their annual night out in the city to celebrate both of their birthdays.
But they were stunned when their bath took 45 minutes to run and when it finished the tub was filled with thick brown gritty sludge.
Shockingly, when Leanne, a sales administrator, walked down to reception to complain she passed a stack of stained and soiled mattresses leaning against a wall.
She also saw missing ceiling tiles exposing wiring in the roof after it appeared to have collapsed
Leanne was stunned when she spotted a fire safety door which had a large sign on it saying it must be kept shut – propped open with a FIRE EXTINGUISHER.
Lazy staff even tried to cover up the ripped carpet in the lobby by placing a wet floor warning sign over the top of it.
The shocked friends took damning pictures of the disgusting condition of the hotel.
Leanne, from Hunstanton, Norfolk, fumed: “It was horrible, it was like a hotel from hell.
“We have stayed there the two years before and it has always been fine so we didn’t expect it to be a problem.
“We checked in as normal and weren’t told of any problems but I ran a bath and came back to dirty brown sludgey water. It was disgusting.
“The staff came up and had a look and unbelievably just laughed and said ‘at least you’ve got some water’.
“They said the boiler hadn’t been working for a day before but they hadn’t mentioned a thing to us when we checked in.
“It was meant to be fixed within the hour but we had to wash in cold water before our birthday night out.
“By the time we got in the next morning there was nothing coming from the hot tap at all and that was the same when we checked out.
“When we left I spoke to the duty manager and said I wasn’t happy with the stay.”
The friends checked into the hotel on Saturday, November 16.
Full-time mum-of-one Amy, from Boston, Lincs., added: “We even overheard them calling all the guests and moving them because they said they couldn’t get someone out on the weekend to fix it.
“It was so messy and looked like a building site.
“You could see the electric wires in the ceiling and there were panels missing.
“The carpet was torn in lots of places and they had tried to cover it up with a caution sign lying flat but it just looked a tip.
“It could have been really dangerous but they didn’t seem to care because there were dirty mattresses left in the corridor.
“It has definitely put me off staying there again. What should have been a good night out turned into a night from hell.”
Leanne and Amy have since been given a full refund by Travelodge.
A Travelodge spokesperson blamed best friends Leanne and Amy’s “night from hell” on a faulty boiler.
They said: “We are very sorry to hear of Miss Jakeman’s recent experience at our Leicester Central hotel.
“On the day in question, a temporary fault with the boiler resulted in a loss of hot water throughout the hotel, and caused water to leak in some places.
“Because this was a busy Saturday night, the hotel staff informed all customers that they could either remain in the hotel and receive a full refund, or be booked into other nearby hotels with all transport costs paid for.
“We recognise that there were a number of other issues identified by the customer, many which were caused by the fault with the boiler, however we have worked with our staff and are confident these have been resolved.
“Since this isolated incident, we have called Miss Jakeman to apologise and have offered her and her friend a free weekend break as a gesture of goodwill.”
