You have to feel sorta bad for the unfortunate dude who leaves behind both The Kama Sutra for Dummies and How to be a Gentleman in Seven Days at a Travelodge. (So many unanswered questions!)
Leave it to Travelodge Hotels to monitor -- and report -- such activity (and, ahem, leave it to us to poke fun at it).
Indeed, the U.K. budget chain just released its annual list of books abandoned in hotel rooms at 336 properties, and while this year's 7,000 discarded titles were mostly autobiographies (John Prescott's memoir tops the list), chick lit, and thrillers, a healthy sprinkling of sex manuals also made the list, like The Best 50 Love Making Positions for the Over 50s.
Travelodge even goes so far as to apply a little Psych 101 musing to the findings: Cardiff and London hotel guests are more likely to discard cash-saving books, perhaps revealing despair at the wallet-damaging cost of city life, while do-gooder Cornwell guests leave behind titles with a spiritual bent.
We told you all about Travelodge'srecycled hotel -- you know, the one with steel shipping containers stacked up together like legos -- and we brought you news last week that the property was open for business.
But what we were envisioning here wasn't quite this...well, boring.
We've got to give Travelodge props for making the interior feel homey and look just like any other hotel, but we kind of not-so-secretly wished this hotel would have looked like a big stack of shipping containers for the novelty of it.
World Architecture News had some fun facts about the green benefits of going the recycled-hotel route:
A traditional 100-bed hotel costs Travelodge around £5 million to build. Construction using shipping containers reduces costs by up to 10 per cent, making the bill for a hotel of the same size around £4.5 million. Using Verbus Modules also shaves approximately 25% off construction time, meaning a 100-bed hotel can be built in 30 weeks, instead of 40.
Travelodge is planning to build half of all hotels this way from now on (!) and the second shipping container hotel is already under construction at Heathrow.
A cool shot of the shipping containers being stacked into the building frame after the jump.
First it was those insane pajamas. Then came the nude sleepwalkers study. Let's not forget the free rooms for people who happen to be named Mary and Joseph when Christmastime comes around, or the option to have the sweet aroma of grass wafted into guestrooms overnight.
And then there was that recyclable hotel you told us you were building. And, like, we knew you were into some crazy stuff -- but it seems you've actually gone and done this thing because we hear your hotel made out of recycled modified steel shipping containers is now open.
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We love to be here to help, and HotelChatter reader Jamie has a quandary: where to stay in Sydney? He's trying to choose between the Travelodge Sydney or the Oaks Goldsborough Apartments and says: "We're most concerned about location!"
The Travelodge is on Wentworth Avenue, really close to the true downtown center of Sydney, while the Goldsborough Apartments are on Pyrmont Street on Darling Harbour, a similar distance from the center of Sydney but with a chance of a harbor view.
Both places are relatively cheap for downtown hotels (and the quality tends to match--not that there's anything wrong with either of them, but they're clearly not luxury hotels).
Travelodge Hotels in the UK are known for their sort of wacky offerings and promotions. Remember the spacey new age pajamas or the nude sleepwalkers study? Let's not forget the free rooms for folks named Mary and Joseph over Christmastime.
This time around Travelodge has announced that guests will now be able to choose a fragrance to have wafted about their room overnight while they sleep.
So this doesn't sound too crazy but then we read the choices for the fragrances. They are the smell of the sea, freshly cut grass, baby powder and chocolate.
The "therapeutic" pajamas are meant to deter nighttime itching, which prevents 23 percent of Brits from getting a good night's sleep, the hotel chain found in its sleepwear study of 3,000 adults across the U.K. The fabric, called Dermasilk, is made from natural knitted silk and is said to curb cases of the evening scratchies by regulating body temperature and maintaining moisture balance. That's all good, but does it protect against bed bugs?
If you happen to spend the night at one of the U.K. hotels where Travelodge is testing the product--London Heathrow T5, Birmingham Fiveways, Bristol Central, Manchester Central and Edinburgh Central--please do let us know just how therapeutic these PJs are. And no, having to go into therapy after being rejected by your lover for having worn this to bed does not count.
We can always count on Travelodge UK for some wacky promotions but their latest one might not be so wacky, considering it's helping out the earth.
The British hotel chain has their sights set on building the first recyclable hotel constructed of steel container crates imported from China. (Like the one Peter Petrelli found himself in on Heroes.)
Paul Harvey, Travelodge's Director of Property & Development, said: "Although it may not look like a hotel right now, the containers will be fitted out to include everything we offer in the rooms at a traditionally-built hotel - a comfortable bed, en-suite bathroom, wardrobe, mirror, desk and chair, right down to the plasma TV and free tea and coffee making facilities. You simply won't be able to tell the difference."
Travelodge is also saying that the hotels can be assembled and disassembled rather quickly, making them the perfect type of temporary hotel to open around major sporting events or festivals. And we know how Travelodge is big into festival hotel accommodations.
But this isn't just some Travelodge pipe dream. A company rep says the hotel is currently under construction in west London district of Uxbridge. It is set to open in June at a starting rate of 19 pounds a night. The hotel will have 120 rooms and a bar cafe on site.
Travelodge also hopes to open near Heathrow Airport by the end of the year. Whoa Yotel. You've got more competition.
When it comes to music festivals, nobody does them quite like the UK. Glastonbury, Reading, V Festival; they're as close to Woodstock as you're gonna get in this day and age.
The reputation that these festivals have garnered as a hedonist's playground, combined with stellar musical line-ups and a cult celebrity following has made them an international drawcard for Britain, a fact that the always eager to promote off beat events Travelodge Hotels have wisely taken note of this year.
Whilst "roughing it" in the mud and rain with tents and sleeping bags might be part and parcel of festival-going, it's certainly not for everyone. Now those with an aversion to portable toilets and mosquitoes can enjoy all that the festivals have to offer, and still go home to a hot shower and clean bed at the end of each sweaty day.
Until January 31st, Travelodge UK is offering a limited number of hotel rooms at the bargain basement price of USD$18 a night throughout the festival season from June to August.
With Travelodge hotels located in the vicinity of major festivals including Glastonbury, Reading, V Festival, T in the Park and Download, it's an offer that's almost too good to be true. Better still, the price is for the entire room, meaning that you can squeeze in up to four festival-goers for less than a fiver each per night.
The rooms are selling out almost as fast as the festivals themselves, so get in quick to take advantage of this great deal.
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