Danielle Barclay, 39, and her husband, Jamie Barclay, 39, stayed at Travelodge Ashbourne, Derbyshire, from 28 to 29 December with their two children after attending a nearby wedding
A family has claimed they were forced to sleep in a Travelodge laundry room after their door lock broke, leaving their children ‘traumatised’.
Danielle Barclay, 39, and her husband Jamie, also 39, stayed at the Travelodge Ashbourne in Derbyshire from 28 to 29 December with their two kids after attending a nearby wedding.
In scenes somewhat reminiscent of the Christmas Nativity in which baby Jesus ends up kipping in a barn, the family found themselves facing a festive bed shortage. When the father found out that their room’s keycard had stopped working, they spent an hour in the corridor with their crying daughter Marlie, eight, and son Jensen, 12. The family claims they were ‘shocked’ when they were offered a makeshift bed in the laundry room as there were no spare rooms available. They declined the offer to move to another hotel 20 miles away.
The children were made to sleep on a ‘broken mattress’ in the cold room, which left Marlie feeling ‘upset and scared’, before maintenance finally helped them back into their room hours later. The beauty therapist shared photos of her family in the laundry room during the ‘horrendous night’s stay’ on TikTok, which has now gone viral with over 255,900 views.
Travelodge issued an apology and said the family had been let down, promising them a courtesy stay alongside a complete refund.
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One photo shows a distraught Marlie sitting outside their hotel room waiting to get in, while another shows Jensen and Marlie trying to sleep on a makeshift bed in the laundry room. Many users pointed out there was ‘very little’ else the hotel could’ve done.
Danielle, hailing from Derby, Derbyshire, opened up about the situation, saying: “It was pretty traumatising for [the kids]. We went to the wedding and got back at ten to twelve. The kids were getting tired and everything so we thought we’d come back and the wedding was finishing,” only for things to go awry when they found themselves locked out of their room. The key card wouldn’t work, my husband had tried it. We went straight to reception and the lady was lovely and was like ‘oh yeah, I’ll come have a look at it’. She couldn’t get it to work. She kept trying and trying and trying.
“She rang the manager and the manager was apparently in Belgium and couldn’t really do much to help and there was nobody else to help her. We’d been sat on the corridor floor for like an hour. My daughter was crying and upset because she was worrying and panicking that we weren’t going to get our things out the room. My son was exhausted, he was laid on the corridor floor trying to get some sleep.”
With no other immediate solutions and maintenance hours away, the family was offered accommodations at another Travelodge 20 miles away.
Danielle explained her dilemma: “I know people in the comments were like ‘you were offered a hotel’ but that option wasn’t viable to us. It was 2 o’clock in the morning, the kids were exhausted and more taxi rides out to places. If we’d have gone it’s getting back to this hotel in the morning. I would’ve had to pack up the room and go back to Derby to catch our train which we likely would’ve missed because we’d got an early train home the next day.”
She also highlighted concerns about the safety of their belongings: “Maintenance would have opened the door at four o’clock and our door would have been unlocked and our belongings were still in that room.”
After being told the only other spot to sleep was in the laundry, Danielle said they were stunned: “We were just in shock. We were like ‘seriously, the laundry room? What are we going to do? They’ve got nowhere to put us’. She put the broken mattress on the floor, put a quilt over it and two pillows for the kids. For us there was obviously nothing else. We had a quilt on the floor with a pillow. A broken mattress on the laundry room floor. Just ridiculous.
“When we got in there there was a laundry basket blocking the fire exit. Our beds were made up in front of the fire exit. God knows there could’ve been a fire in there and we wouldn’t have been accounted for and we wouldn’t have been able to get out. It was freezing in there. I had to sleep in my fur coat. It went pitch black in there. We weren’t given any toilet facilities, we weren’t offered a drink.
“It was the most uncomfortable night’s sleep. Having to sleep on an uncomfortable concrete floor with just a quilt on the floor is just not acceptable. My son was just exhausted by that point and laid down and tried to go to sleep. My little girl was scared in the dark. It’s cold, it’s not our room so she’s obviously going to be quite upset and scared by the situation.”
The mum-of-two said they were able to get back into their room at quarter past four but had no way of locking the door.
Many social media users expressed their support for Danielle. One user commented: “I’m so sorry you and your children had to go through this.”
However, others criticised Danielle, arguing that the hotel had done all it could under the circumstances. One user pointed out: “Did they not offer you a different hotel as they were fully booked but you refused. I’m unsure what you expected them to do.” Another user noted: “It was an accident, right? They didn’t do anything to you on purpose and were sold out so very little they could do.”
A spokesperson for Travelodge has admitted they didn’t meet their usually top-notch customer care standards and apologised to Ms. Barclay and her family for any inconvenience at Ashbourne Travelodge, saying: “We apologise to Ms. Barclay and her family for their recent experience at Ashbourne Travelodge. On this occasion, we fell short of our usual high standards of customer care.
“Unfortunately, the hotel experienced an isolated technical issue. As soon as this was brought to the hotel team’s attention, they promptly offered alternative accommodation at the closest Travelodge hotel. The customer has been offered a full refund and we will be offering them a complimentary stay as a gesture of goodwill.”