Overview

The Travelodge in Glastonbury is on the outskirts of the town but on a bus route making it a good accessible option. They have 2 accessible rooms and both have wheels in shower.

Transport & Parking

Glastonbury does not have a train station. I took the 376 bus from Bristol which took about 1.5 hours. The bus is accessible with a ramp at the front of the bus and a wheelchair user space. This bus also stops by the Travelodge. The stop is called Wirral Roundabout and if you are coming from Glastonbury town centre the stop is immediately after the roundabout. The bus into Glastonbury is immediately opposite. Neither bus stops have a shelter or seating, see photos of the bus stop going into Glastonbury. If you download the First Bus app you can set your favourites so you can easily view the real life bus departure times for your chosen bus stops. This is handy in planning your day. Also from the app you can by a variety of bus tickets at a reduced price and have them stored in your app for when you want to use them. You activate them just before you board the bus and scan your ticket onboard. From the bus stop make towards the roundabout and you will see a petrol station on the corner of the roundabout. The Travelodge is immediately behind it. Please note not all the pavements have drop kerbs, i.e. the one by the garage which I photographed. Also someone was riding their bike on the pavement and informed me that it was also a cycle lane. I am not sure if this is true as there was no markings to indicate this, however, another time I saw another cyclist on the pavement, so just be aware of this as the pavements are quite narrow.

Access

The Travelodge is step free throughout. There are automatic double doors at the entrance. The counter is at standing height. The reception area is sparse with a couple of vending machines. There is then a manual single door which unlocks with your room key. Then there is a lift , which announces the floor. There is also a staircase with with handrails on both side. I was on the second/ top floor and there was a refuge point and evachair at the top of the stairs. My room was spacious and very clean. there were to single beds made up as a double bed. The mattress was firm and it helped me transfer easily in the morning. There were bedside tables with a single shelf underneath. There was wardrobe and shelf space and a desk and chair. There was a TV. Internet access is at a fee and there was no hairdryer. The bathroom was also spacious. There was a sink, toilet and wheels in shower. There was plenty of grab rails and a shower chair. However, there were 2 safety issues about the bathroom that concerned me. 1) The emergency red cord was right next to the bathroom door. In fact when I first opened the door I nearly pulled the cord thinking it was the light switch, it was only because it was red that I stopped myself in time. On the other side of the door frame was the light switch. The emergency red cord is no where near the toilet or shower area. Given the spaciousness of the bathroom, if someone fell in the shower or by the toilet they would need to be able to move to the emergency cord to obtain help, and depending on their disability or the injury from the fall they may not be able to reach it. I would recommend relocating the emergency cord to either between the toilet and shower area, or to provide separate cords for each facility. 2) The flooring around the shower area slopes down toward the drain. This is not marked out on the flooring and so when I first used it a lost my balance a bit as it was unexpected. I would recommend that there was visible and tactile markings on the floor to make people aware of this. Also given that the emergency cord is by the door, if someone fell in the shower they would have to crawl upwards to reach the cord.

Toilets

NA. I don't think there was any public toilets in the hotel.

Staff

On the day of my arrival the Travelodge phoned me to ask about my access needs in the event of fire. She confirmed that I would not require an evachair and explained if this was required she would have booked an additional member of staff to enable this. There was no pressure put on me to give a particular answer, it was a straightforward question and I was impressed that they were taking my safety seriously. Staff were extremely helpful and welcoming. When I arrived there was a sign saying to phone reception and someone came within moments after I rang. On the day I checked out I left my case with reception and collected it later. When I was checking out I raised both points about the safety in the bathroom as mentioned above. When I returned to collect my case the member of staff let me know that she had escalated this with her manager and it would be followed up.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

The Travelodge is on a retail park, which makes it very convenient. On the ground floor of the Travelodge building is a Domino Pizza, Subway and Wirral Plaice Fish and Chip Shop. It is adjacent to a large branch of Tesco and a drive through Costa Coffee and a KFC. This made it very handy for me as a solo traveller using public transport. I was able to walk over to Tesco and get bottles of water. As I am still trying to shield, it was very convenient for getting takeaways so I could eat in my room. So one night I went to the chippy and the other two nights went to Domino Pizza. It took all the stress of eating indoors in public from me away and also as I was having full days out, my spoons were low by the evening and it was nice to just come back and relax in my room. I would be very happy to stay at the Travelodge again.

Photos