booking

A traveller discovered that paying a small fee to choose your specific room at Travelodge can get you a noticeably larger space in the same category – without upgrading

When booking a hotel, aside from selecting your room category, you’re often left in the dark about what room you’ll end up with. But I’ve stumbled upon a nifty trick that could land you a larger hotel room for just £3.50.

Securing a hotel for any occasion, be it a city break with mates or a romantic weekend getaway, can be a bit of a headache, given the vast array of options available. And even after you’ve picked your preferred hotel, you then have to decide on your room category, which is usually dictated by price (let’s face it, we’d all opt for the premium suites if our wallets allowed).

But what if I told you there’s a way to bag a bigger room when booking through Travelodge, without having to rely on the whims of the booking system? This little gem came to light during a trip to London with my pals earlier this year.

We were staying overnight after catching an evening show, so I booked us into a Travelodge on Central City Road in London. As there were three of us, I opted for a triple family room – the most budget-friendly choice for a Saturday night in the capital.

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A few days prior to our stay, I noticed an option in my booking that let me ‘choose my room’ before checking in. Initially, I was a tad sceptical, but I’m chuffed I decided to delve a bit deeper.

For a mere additional £3.50, I discovered that I could handpick the exact room my mates and I would bunk in during our getaway. In the spirit of investigation and intrigue, I coughed up the trifling £3.50 and was directed to a site map showcasing all the available rooms within my category, enabling me to select our quarters.

What took me aback was that, despite all the rooms displayed falling within the specific category I’d booked, a handful were markedly larger as per the floor plan. So naturally, I opted for the most spacious room on offer.

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Even at this juncture, I was sceptical about whether we’d actually be allocated this room upon check-in, given that I’d shelled out less than a fiver and it was significantly roomier than the rest. So you can imagine my delight when I checked in on Saturday afternoon and they handed over the keys to the exact room I’d chosen – it was absolutely worth the extra £3.50.

We found ourselves in a sprawling room equipped with a double bed and two single beds, despite never altering the room category. Plus, it afforded us crucial additional space for prepping for a night on the town without having to splurge on an expensive upgrade.

This nifty trick can be employed at over 575 Travelodge hotels, and it’s not just for securing extra room. You can opt to ‘choose your room’ to ensure you’re lodged near family or friends, secure a particular view, guarantee a top or ground floor room, or ensure you’re close to a lift.

Not only does this trick potentially offer the bonus of a larger room, as I discovered, but it also eliminates any check-in uncertainty. However, it’s crucial to bear in mind that this hack depends on the hotel’s availability and layout.

Some Travelodge hotels may not have a bigger room available in the category you’ve booked, but it’s definitely worth enquiring. Furthermore, the cost can fluctuate depending on the hotel, room type and duration of stay, but it’s applicable for a range of Travelodge room categories.

Got a travel story you want to share with us? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

Spain’s government has fined San Francisco’s Airbnb $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals, officials said Monday.

The move is the latest government action in Spain against short-term rental companies such as Airbnb and Booking.com as the country grapples with a housing affordability problem, particularly in city centers.

The consumer rights ministry said the rentals didn’t include license numbers — a requirement in many regions in Spain — or listed license numbers that didn’t match what authorities had. Others had incorrect information about hosts, it said.

Airbnb said that it plans to challenge the fine in court.

The company said it was working with Spanish authorities to comply with a new national registration system for short-term rentals, and that more than 70,000 listings on the platform had added a registration number since January.

Spain’s leftist government and many Spaniards across the political spectrum see short-term rental companies as bearing responsibility for driving up housing costs.

The nation on the Iberian Peninsula is one of the world’s most visited countries and short-term holiday rentals have cut into many cities’ stretched housing supply.

“There are thousands of families living on the edge because of the housing crisis, while a few enrich themselves with business models that evict people from their homes,” Spain’s consumer rights minister, Pablo Bustinduy, said Monday in a statement.

In May, the consumer rights ministry ordered Airbnb to take down roughly 65,000 listings because of rule violations.

In 2024, Spain’s anti-trust watchdog fined Booking.com $448 million, saying the online travel company had abused its dominant market position in the country during the previous five years.

Local authorities in Barcelona have said they plan to phase out all of the 10,000 apartments licensed in the city as short-term rentals by 2028 to safeguard the housing supply for residents.