Travelodge Waterford - Waterford, Ireland     

The room reeked of stale cigarette smoke and the bathroom reeked of stale urine. Arrived at check in after a 4 hour drive, to be asked for photo I.D without which we would not have been allowed to check in- not mentioned anywhere on their website. Just by sheer luck I did have my driving licence in the car, other wise I would have had to drive around Waterford at 9pm with 2 children looking for another hotel. I had to pay in cash as their credit card maching was broken, and the receptionist still demanded photo I.D. I have never been asked to produce photo I.D in any other Irish hotel I have ever stayed in. I was told it was some new policy that they have, thay you only discover at the reception desk, maybe too late for some people if they are not carrying photo I.D! The sign also mentioned that anyone who pays in cash had to produce a credit card? What if you dont have one? The best advice I can give to anyone is to let them have their bizarre rules and stay somewhere else.

On our arrival to check in we had the unfortunate experiance to be checked in by a Nigerian receptionist. I am in no way racist but this rude man really upset our stay with Travelodge Waterford. When we asked if we could extend our stay by one day as my wife wanted to see Waterford Crystal which is close by, he yelled at us saying " Why didn't you say this when you made the booking ! We were both shocked at his behaviour and we were on the verge of walking out and finding another hotel but when I mentioned about could we cancel the room he again yelled and said " No you can not or you will be charged for the room as it is after 12pm !" Later on we came down to the reception area and sat on the sofa to talk about where we could eat. We could not believe that he also treated other people checking in using the same manner. We noticed that a Friday night was very busy at this hotel and after returning from a night out in the city there was a new receptioist on duty. As it turned out after talking to this man we found out he was from New Zealand , we are pleased to say that all those who work in reception are not like the one who checked us in. We had locked our key in our room and a very nice security officer could not of done more for us and got us back into our room. I have to say the room was spotless and so was the rest of the hotel.