assistant hotel manager

hotel manager

maintenance person

maintenance engineer

customer service representative

Travelodge

As a maintenance engineer you would think the job would be about fixing things, not true!
Your roll involves driving around in circles taking photos of shabby carpets, messy linen rooms and sharing photos of blocked toilets and shoddy workmanship on WhatsApp!
When you're not doing that you will be fixing something that was "fixed" the day before by either an engineer who's unskilled or the £400 a day outside contractor who just sees Travelodge as a cash cow!
The hotels you serve are in a constant battle with the management of the maintenance team who love to cancel jobs every 5 minutes, they will put a room back online to be sold knowing there's no carpet in the room! 
You will find yourself constantly going back to the same room for the same problem month after month after month.
Stability in your working life is vital to success, you will not find it here, the management switch the patches around 2-4 times a year,  you think you have found a system and way of working sorted out and bang, it's gone! New hotels,  new supervisor, back to square 1.
The Health and Safety issues you will come across in your daily working life are staggering,  bedrooms used as storage areas full of flammable dirty linen,  store rooms full of rubbish and combustibles, hot and cold water in some rooms that fail to meet the requirements deemed safe, fire exits blocked by rubbish or in one case observed,  a snow shovel shoved between the handles of the door!
You will be using power tools and ladders which should be checked by your management that they are safe to use, but they don't bother, it's too much trouble!
Hotel staff can be fantastic,  they will make you a tea as soon as you walk in,  these are the people you really need to have a great working relationship with...
Hotel staff (mainly managers) can also be the worse,  I've been sworn at,  had them tell lies to try and get you into trouble, one came down to reception in her pyjamas and blue cookie monster slippers and stood behind reception! It was like a carry- on film or hidden camera show. 
The Covid compliance and safety issues faced recently has really highlighted the companies poor management, around 80% of the hotels I visited staff didn't bother with face coverings or social distancing even during the time when thousands were dying weekly. 
I would recommend working at Travelodge if you are used to poor management or have never worked for yourself, you will find it hard to adjust to the incompetence that runs throughout the whole management,  it permeates down from the very top,  maintenance is about fixing things not graphs and charts.
If you can turn a blind eye to everything you will find the job an absolute joy,  it's easy work,  you can grab a tea or coffee whenever you like,  get some breakfast if your at a good manager's hotel,  keep your head below the parapet and you have a job for life...


Initially upon being interviewed at Travelodge I was excited and looking forward to the job at hand, its not an amazing job. But a job is a job.

The training is relatively thorough, showing the main fire exits and what to do in emergencies. However, most of the training is done on the job and is quite straightforward. 

I will say however, that even though the training and cleaning of rooms is regulated and should be done a certain way. Most of the members of staff do not comply with this and use alternative techniques to clean faster or more efficiently. This is somewhat needed, as the time parameters for cleaning a whole depart room is 20 minutes, of which in my opinion, is way to short of a time to clean effectively to a decent standard that a customer deserves, therefore leading to "shortcuts" that the staff develop over time.

Initially at Travelodge, leftover breakfast food was supplied with hot and cold drinks. This was quickly taken away at some stage of me working there without any communication whatsoever. 

Additionally, the "Fab Fridays" that are advertised when applying for the job are very few and far in between. Personally I saw about 3 of them in the 2 years I worked there.

The reception staff are very snobby and talk down to you whenever there is an additional task to be done in a certain room, especially on a day where you are already overworked, and walk away with a smile on their faces back to the reception desk. 
Many a time I have witnessed members of the reception team using mobile phones for texting or making video calls with other friends/family during their shift and in plain view of management with zero repercussions. As a housekeeping team member this was infuriating to watch while we are overworked.

I have found the staff at Travelodge to be very "Cliquey" in nature, often leading to resentments between the reception staff and the housekeeping staff.

Additionally, Travelodge have an "Aspire" programme for those who would like to progress higher into management. This feels like it doesn't mean much when all of the new hires for deputy manager or new managers which are hired come mostly from outside of the company who have no clue how to run a hotel or even manage staff correctly.

The most enjoyable part of this job however, is the other members of the housekeeping team, they are all nice and friendly, they know how bad the job gets sometimes, and more often enough, even when their own rooms are cleaned, they pitch in and give you a hand.

Typical day was getting cleaning stuff sorted and you're given a sheet with a number of rooms you have to clean. Some guests don't leave till the last minute so sometimes you're standing around until they leave, or go do the rooms that have no one in. (if anyone has left) they usually have. or you can help someone else. whether they help you back at the end of the day is their choice. they usually do. depends who it is to be honest, Not everyone will. At the end of the day your rooms are checked and You're given a percentage on how well you done. 0% worst 100% best. 

Didn't really learn much the job was very easy when you have the basics down. 10 steps you can follow to make your job easier.

Management is, Questionable to say the least. you have no idea who is a manager of who. every other week someone would come in who was higher than the previous person that came in so you're always expected to act professional if they're in your hotel on the day. to be expected. Easiest way around this is to assume everyone is your boss. 

Within 3 months you're given the option to try "Aspire" this course is in another location so you'd have to travel to like York or Manchester to learn what you'd need to to advance in the company. I applied for it and told the assistant manager about it the next day. she basically said i have no chance of passing and try again in a few years. Kinda sad to hear that. Maybe not everyone learns at a snails pace? 

Workplace Culture all good to be honest. a lot of huddles with staff to make sure everyone is on the same page. and up to date with what jobs needs to be done more than others. They're a morale boost aswell. getting the group together before the shift started was probably the best part of the shift. 

I dont think theirs anything hard about the job. its easy to make it hard for yourself. but if you're organised and get on with it its easy enough.

The most enjoyable part of the job has to be talking to friends. Almost everyone you talk is lovely and has nothing bad to say. theirs some workers who i couldn't really talk to because of a language barrier.

Just don't miss days and you'll be good, You're very very easily replaced.

When I initially started work here it was great. Good work life balance, plenty of overtime, kept busy and the team worked together well.

Over time we had switched managers which was for the best as the previous one had proved to be placed in a position she wasnt ready for far too early. 

New manager was great at the beginning but as time went on you started to notice different things.
The supervisor was best friends with the manageress, the manager would often ask you to complete a numerous amount of task within an impossible time scale. We do have 8 hours on our shift but between looking after guests and doing our jobs on the task sheets, it is impossible for us to deep clean 15-20 rooms to her standards. Standards were ridiculously high, and although you tried your best to achieve these, it still wasn’t enough and more was expected of you even if you reached said standards. 

When it comes to your health, work comes first. Unless you have a young child then you are given more leeway. If you are suffering from mental health problems, medical conditions etc, you were still expected to put work first. 

Manager forgot regularly about holidays that you had booked in advance. Rotas were changed without your knowledge and if you didn’t show up for a shift you were berated for this even though you had not been ASKED/ NOTIFIED that shifts had changed. 

Favouritism was very prominent within this hotel, being early shift, supervisor and select housekeepers. 

I had worked above and beyond for this hotel, I pulled 90 hour weeks, 16-20 hours shifts, acting manager whilst supervisor and manager was off for two weeks or more, having routine investigations in the hotel with HR, covering shifts at numerous other hotels, training 95% of the staff that were in the building and any new that were to come in.

When the time came that my own health had depleted, I had zero support from neither the hotel managers, HR and had heard nothing from the district manager either.

Within my first year, I was not covering as many sick shifts as I did when I first started and due to this my hours were threatened along with another colleague as we were expected to pick these shifts up.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Taking pride in maintaining standards and delivering a good experience for guests.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The lack of support, combined with unrealistic expectations and damaging behaviour after employment ends.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I worked for Travelodge for four years. Initially, I enjoyed the role—it was hands-on, and I took pride in maintaining standards and delivering a good experience for guests.

That changed significantly following a shift in management. The focus became heavily driven by unrealistic productivity targets, with little regard for what could actually be achieved to a proper standard. At Travelodge London Liverpool Street, I was expected to silicone 15 shower trays and basins in a single day—an unachievable workload if the job is to be done correctly.

When I raised this with management, including Liam Mann, my concerns were dismissed outright. There was no willingness to listen or engage with the reality of the workload. After escalating the issue to the district manager, Marie Muscott, the situation worsened. From that point on, I felt I was being singled out and targeted by management, including Danny Thomas, rather than supported.

To make matters worse, after I left the company, false rumours were circulated internally claiming I had been using a company vehicle to carry out Amazon deliveries. These allegations are completely untrue. I have since learned that similar rumours have been used against other employees who have left or been dismissed, which raises serious concerns about the culture and professionalism within management.

In my experience, raising legitimate concerns is not welcomed, and can instead lead to being ignored or targeted. The lack of support, combined with unrealistic expectations and damaging behaviour after employment ends, reflects poorly on how staff are treated.

Travelodge may offer a decent role under the right management, but my experience highlights serious issues around workload expectations, accountability, and respect for employees.

There is no such thing as a typical day at work in Travelodge. You can arrive at 7am for your 8 hour shift and not be released from your misery until 32 hours later because all the reception staff decide to phone in sick. It does not help when you are being expected to manage 2 hotels with minimal support.
I learned that senior management do not care in the slightest about their managers on the floor. I once received an angry phone call from my district manager because I had the audacity to leave my shift half an hour early for a GP appointment, even though I had worked way over my salaried hours that week to cover sickness (unpaid of course). It was never any skin off his nose when I had to work extra hours to cover for useless team members who thought they were doing me a favour when they bothered to turn up at work.
The workplace culture was appalling. New procedures were constantly rolled out, but at the same time the staff hours were cut so no chance to communicate them to the team. Management were confined to managing the reception desk and doing room inspections. I had to catch up on email during my commute and do payroll and rota from home because there was no time to do it in the workplace.
The hardest part of the job was the complete lack of care or interest in my well being from my line manager. I suffered from extreme mental health issues, including an eating disorder, but got accused of being an alcoholic. At that point I resigned in disgust. The other difficulty was staff not feeling the need to come into work, which meant that I would have to stay and cover their shifts or clean their rooms rather than doing the management duties required of me. The best bit of all was when I was scheduled to finish at 3pm, then the district manager would rock up at five to 3 and keep me there for another 3 hours.
The most enjoyable part of the job was working with my teams, however that went sour when the disagreed with new processes in place. 
All in all, I used to really enjoy working for the company, but they are only as good as their people and they have some really bad ones there.

Basic minimal training; - one shift is expected to be enough to train most staff - if staff complain about this you may be lucky enough to get another shift of training.

Minimum wage; - even management salary is poor.

Typical day;- Start at 7am, and run the Reception/Bar/waitress the cafe at once with over 50 guests eating and up too 100 checking out. Then clean the Cafe, the toilets, the Bar, the buffet area, the floor, polish the cutlery, store everything away for the next day. Then hoover the stairs, do paperwork, cash up the till, all by 12pm. Then commence room checks with a buzzer at reception so when guests arrive to check-in you have to run down flights of stairs to acknowledge them. Face unhappy guests when you tell them they have to pay £10 to check in before 3pm AND you cannot store their bags whilst they leave and come back at 3pm. Then continue room checks until the 2pm shift arrives, and handover then leave at 3pm.

2pm start;- finish room checks, and check guests into rooms. This is when complaints start - Travelodge have crazy tight budgets for essentials like remote controls, pillows, tea and coffee sachets and the hand and body soap in rooms. The hotel usually does not have spares, so if its broken, you try to fix it. Then you continue checking in until 10pm on your own, and if youre lucky there will be someone to cook from 5-10pm, if not you run the Bar, reception and kitchen alone. 

In a nut shell, high stress, unsociable hours and low wage. No wonder why the company has a terribly high staff turnover. 

NB, cleaners get 15 minutes to clean a room - a LOT is expected of all staff for such low wage. It's a really greedy company with no regard for staff at all.

Policies and procedures get changed on you with no notice in a very passive manner - it's expected of you to spend your time keeping up with policies which are not kept anywhere central or reasonable, often emailed out in amongst large newsletters that are not relevant to you or your role. Direct support from your line manager is non existent, you get one visit a month if you're lucky and no advice on how to implement things whilst working 32 hours a week as a receptionist, because managers are receptionists too. 

Continually stripping staff - now making team members 'multi-skilled', even though housekeeping and reception are vastly different departments with vastly different skillsets and needs. Operations team seems to expect team members to constantly be multitasking but still delivering 'world class customer service' whilst also cleaning rooms and providing reception service, and they wonder why review scores are dropping and review volumes are dropping - it's hard to get a review from a guest when you're talking to them through a mobile phone whilst also cleaning a room. The best change the company could make for customer service would be to ensure reception desks are properly manned 24/7 but that would cost money. 

A lot of the buildings are massively outdated and not fit for purpose in 2020 - the company refuses to listen to customers when they are told this, it's bounced back on the managers to ensure you get good reviews from people who experienced a 30c+ room with no air conditioning. 

People services team exists purely to protect the company, not employees - mistakes made are covered up if managers are liked by their line and attacked if they're not. 

Managers are routinely expected to cover shifts with no notice because of the company's culture of single manning even at the largest sites, and single manned reception desks are routinely expected to deal with overbooking situations that create a lot of stress.



Travelodge can be better, if the head office or the company taking more attention especially from the housekeepers. Example housekeepers can get more wages like in the other hotels, not only the minimal. More money means better job, what is making happier costumers. Fixed hours, and afternoon shift. As a housekeeper you not able to keep a rent and bills just if you work 6 days/week, what is impossible for some persons.
In the housekeeping could be a basic English language requirement, because most of the housekeepers can not speak English what is really hard on the training and on the meetings!! And that’s why in some hotels has nation discrimination felt because of some supervisors and managers prefers a same people like them, and they get less, or easier job. So many housekeepers wasting time when don’t have enough job. Lot’s of employers and team leaders, supervisors are so rude.
Don’t have bonus if someone always making good work, no positive feedbacks from manager. And some of the supervisors, assistant managers, managers don’t care about your personal life. Example they always complaining if you come back from your holiday or you come back from sick leave. Or they asking many times to work without off.
The cleaning time in one depart room is not enough, I mean, it’s impossible to finish on time, especially in some older buildings! And the company always just reduce the stayover and depart rooms time. 
I don’t think the person who figured out the cleaning times/room has ever cleaned any dirty room in a dusty building. Unfortunately it has some buildings what are really old and the company doesn’t spend enough money to renew these ones. 
That’s why the housekeeping can be much better. because it is not a bad job, just has a lots of mistake.
Working in bar&cafe is really good, example in there has more things to do and longer, fixed shifts. Only one problem has: same money, minimal wages, like housekeeping.

When I first started at Travelodge Maidstone, I was extremely happy. I settled in well, and quickly adapted to my role. I had no problems with colleagues, in fact everyone was kind and polite, as well as extremely respectful towards me.

This was except the General Manager. She was always in a terrible mood with everyone. Instead of asking politely about things, she would always come across in an aggressive manner, almost accusatory.

Thankfully in my first 7 weeks on the job, I never really saw her, due to working nights.

On Wednesday the 15th October 2025, the manager forces me to stay 20 minutes after my shift has finished, to bombard me with accusations, that have come from the newest member of the nights team.

The newest team member is incredibly lazy, and had no real desire to learn about the administrative part of the job. I tried to inform management of this, but they completely brushed it off. So when I'd heard they'd taken the accusations, which were false, from the new starter seriously. I then realised that the manager clearly had favourites. I was accused of multiple things, yet the manager had not done her diligence and actually investigated the matter, she just began to accuse me.

No other member of staff had any issues with me, or my conduct. I was always professional and I held myself to that standard.

The newest team member had a habit of getting too close to guests. She would follow them outside to smoke/vape, would encourage guests to stay downstairs and talk to her all night, and even when I tried to close the bar, I was ignored and overruled.

But this team member then accused me of not stepping in to stop guests talking to her.

All in all, this new starter and the poor excuse of a manager, were the reason I had to leave this role, effective immediately. The manager is a bully, and will pick on certain staff members, and the new starter was unprofessional and disinterested in many parts of the job. 

It's a very toxic environment. 

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