travelinn.co.uk

As a regular business traveller, I normally arrange my entire hotel and travel arrangements through a travel agent. Quite often, finding a good deal and arranging the details can be a relatively time-consuming process, and at a corporate level a travel agent will very often be able to secure better discounts than an individual. However, recently I have been required to arrange bookings for a large party of guests, and in order to keep costs down, ...
...20+ persons, I have tended to use the Travel Inn chain. The centralised booking service is facilitated via their web site www.travelinn.co.uk and here is an overview of what works, and what doesn’t.

ABOUT THE SITE

The Travel Inn web site is intended to act as a portal to all Travel Inn related services. From the company’s web site, you can:

 Identify the availability of a Travel Inn ... more

As a regular business traveller, I normally arrange my entire hotel and travel arrangements through a travel agent. Quite often, finding a good deal and arranging the details can be a relatively time-consuming process, and at a corporate level a travel agent will very often be able to secure better discounts than an individual. However, recently I have been required to arrange bookings for a large party of guests, and in order to keep costs down, and to find hotels that will be able to accommodate 20+ persons, I have tended to use the Travel Inn chain. The centralised booking service is facilitated via their web site www.travelinn.co.uk and here is an overview of what works, and what doesn’t.

ABOUT THE SITE

The Travel Inn web site is intended to act as a portal to all Travel Inn related services. From the company’s web site, you can:

 Identify the availability of a Travel Inn in your destination area
 Download directions to specific Travel Inns and obtain tourist information about the local area
 Book rooms online
 Get news and updates from the Travel Inn chain

The site is laid out in the standard Travel Inn livery, with a simple design, featuring a pink and purple colour scheme, as per the Travel Inn logo. The site is very intuitive – the designers have kept things simple, and the pages are uncluttered and easy to browse.

WHAT IS TRAVEL INN?

The Travel Inn chain is part of the very successful Whitbread group and has established itself as one of the most famous budget hotel chains in the UK. Within this section you can find out about the three types of Travel Inn - the standard ones, Travel Inn Metros (found in major cities) and Travel Inn Capital (found in London). The web site explains the differences between the three, as well as a tariff of the charges raised in each. There is also a guide to how the Travel Inn system works, with an overview of what you get for your money. Each Travel Inn is served by one of eight different chain restaurants, and there is an overview here of the type of food served at each. In fact, only four of the links work and are actually referrals to the restaurants’ own web sites.

A relatively useful feature contained within this section is a search engine that enables you to search by facility. By clicking one of four illustrated icons (e.g. beach, shopping centre, theatre) the site will return a list of Travel Inns that are located in convenient distance of such a facility. To be honest, this feature is nothing more than a gimmick – you wouldn’t search for any Travel Inn near a theatre, you would search for one near the specific theatre you have in mind.

Another problem with the site is that there is a broad assumption that every £42.95 Travel Inn will be of the same standard. Regular users will know that this is definitely not the case – many of the older inns are quite shabby and in need of a refit. Some of the inns are situated in relatively undesirable locations, next to motorways or main roads, and many are situated well away from public transport. This is the sort of information that a traveller would require, and I’m afraid this section is rather lacking in any such detail.

FIND A TRAVEL INN

This is perhaps the most widely used facility on the site, as it enables you to quickly find a Travel Inn near your travel destination. The search facilities are available as follows:

 By postcode or town. Simply enter Manchester or M1 and a list of available inns will be displayed. The results are displayed by name with a distance shown in miles from the search criteria that you entered. If you enter the postcode (my preferred option) you will be presented with a list of all inns within about a ten-mile radius. If you enter a place name, you will first have to confirm the place from a list (which often only contains the name of the place you want!!) and you will then be presented with a similar list.

 By facility. In addition to the postcode or town search, you can also add specific criteria from a list. For example, if your hotel needs to be near a football ground, you can tick the box and it will filter the list of results for you.

 By motorway. A useful facility, in that if you are travelling a considerable journey on the motorway, you can find a Travel Inn on your route, even if you aren’t sure of the associated towns. Upon entering the motorway concerned, you will be presented with a list of inns near, or within the services of a motorway. The results are not presented in a logical format though – a useful amendment would be to present the list in junction order.

 Using a map. A map is presented, which is split into grids. These can be clicked to select a specific area, and you can keep drilling down until you find the inn nearest your chosen destination.

With all the search results, you key your criteria in a box and press enter – I normally prefer a search icon that you can click, as pressing enter twice seems to confuse the site, and is an easy mistake to make.

HOW TO BOOK

This section offers advice and information on how to book using one of three methods:

 Call Direct

Simply a list of all the Travel Inn telephone numbers, so that you can phone them directly.

 Central Reservations

A single telephone number that you can call. Advisors can make bookings at any Travel Inn, and the advantage is that in the event that one inn is fully booked, the advisors can quickly and easily tell you of the next nearest inn with availability.

 Book Online

A link into the online reservation service.

BOOKING ONLINE

Booking a room online is a relatively straightforward process, but is not my recommended option.

Firstly, each time you enter the online reservation section, you are presented with an enormous list of terms and conditions, to which you must click the “I Accept” icon at the foot of the page. There is no facility to register as a regular user, which would enable you to bypass this section, and at busy times, this page can take quite a while to load. You can register your email address with the site, but this will only be so that they can email you with marketing offers.

Once you have accepted the T&C, you proceed to a requirement page where you enter your requirements from a number of drop down menus. You will have had to find the Travel Inn you want to book before you get to this stage, as the only facility here is to select from a drop down list. You can choose arrival and departure dates, as well as more than one room, but you will need to specify individual requirements for each room (e.g. Non Smoking). An annoying foible of the site is that if you select a double room with one occupant, the web site will throw up an error screen and will only allow a booking for a double room if you enter two occupants. As far as I am aware, there are no actual Single Rooms in any Travel Inn, but force of habit still means that I still choose the double room option.

Having submitted these details, you will then be advised whether the requirements could be met. Providing you give plenty of notice, this is not normally a problem, but if the booking cannot be accommodated for any reason (e.g. you want 20 Non Smoking rooms and they only have 19) you won’t get an explanatory message – you will simply be declined.

If you complete a reservation, you are asked to guarantee the reservation with a credit card, but do not have to pay anything until you arrive at the Travel Inn. Travel Inns have a 4 p.m. on the day cancellation policy, and if this is not met with then a cancellation charge will be raised against your card. A confirmation email is sent, with the relevant booking reference. Ludicrously, if you do want to cancel, you can only do this over the telephone – there is no cancellation facility on the online booking service.

On this basis, I would generally recommend that bookings made via the Central Reservations number are easier, quicker and more complete – the online booking service simply isn’t complete enough, and can be quite time-consuming.

TRAVEL INN NEWS & HOW TO CONTACT US.

This is a rather neglected section – it currently contains only three stories, all of which are rather out of date. Within the Contact Us section you can leave feedback or make enquiries – emails generally received quite slowly – I normally have to wait at least 48 hours. There is also a section of FAQs, although the link for this is very small and you may well miss it if you blink.

MY VERDICT

As a search facility for Travel Inn outlets, this site is thorough, effective and useful. As an online booking service, it is not complete, and chances are that you will end up having to phone Central Reservations instead. The site could generally be condensed and simplified, with more emphasis on information rather than gimmick.

Not recommended.
 

...less