Super staff, lots of heavy doors
4
4
Date of visit: October 2025
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.
I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair
Overall Rating
Good
The Travelodge Swansea Central is in a good location close to transport links and there are lots of food options nearby. The step-free access is easy to miss as it actually is part of the entrance to an apartment complex next door to the hotel. I struggled with some of the doors between the reception and my room because they required me to swipe my key and then deal with a very heavy door in one go. I stayed in an accessible room with a roll-in shower. I enjoyed my stay in this room and found the spacing in the room was good. The only thing I would have liked was more powerful heating. I got caught in the rain on my first day and found that it was difficult to get warm again and to dry my coat, hat, scarf and gloves off properly. I always find that the Travelodge staff take great care to ensure I understand the safety procedures in case of evacuation. I was shown the refuge points, the evac chair and their location to my room.
Disabled Access In and Around
Good
There is step-free access to the hotel but it is easy to miss as it’s part of the entrance to a block of apartments next door to the hotel. The ramp is to the left of the main entrance. At the top of the ramp there is a heavy door leading to the hotel’s main entrance, it had a button to open the door but one side had been placed in an awkward position. The reception was very high, so it was a bit difficult to interact. When it came to filling out the Personal Evacuation and Escape forms a member of staff came and sat at a lower height table with me. There was another heavy door from reception to the lift lobby which required you to swipe your key before opening the door. When I first checked in, a member of staff helped me up to my room. When I was returning to the hotel, there was always a member of staff at reception who was happy to open the door for me, but I did struggle with it when I was exiting the hotel a few times as no one knew I was on the other side. There were two lifts to all the floors of the hotel. Once I had reached my floor, there was another heavy, keycard door to get through and I also struggled with this a lot during my stay. My accessible room was the closest room to the lifts on the floor I was on. It had a double bed which had some space on the side of the bed which might fit a hoist. I’m unfamiliar with hoist measurements or requirements so I’m not certain if one would fit. There was a small desk, some wardrobe and shelf space, and small bedside shelves. There were no UK plug sockets by the bed but there were two USB-C ports on either side of the bed for charging cables. There was an emergency alarm by the bed with a sign that also had Braille explaining what it was for. There was also an armchair in the corner behind the bed and a smaller chair at the desk. Both could be moved, but the armchair was heavy. The bathroom door opened outwards and led into a wet-room style bathroom. The toilet was in the back left corner and had a height-adjustable grab rail as well as a vertical grab rail behind it and a horizontal grab rail to the side of it. The sink was just in front of the toilet and had a large mirror above it. I was able to roll beneath it enough that I could use the sink comfortably. The tap was manually operated and had a handle which seemed like it could be operated with a fist or elbow. The tap twisted to control the temperature of the water and lifted to control the flow. A plug was attached to the sink with a chain. There were some towel rails to the left of the sink with towels. In the back right corner was the roll-in shower. A shower chair folded down from the wall and there were both fixed and height-adjustable grab rails around the shower. The shower head had been left up high but I was able to move it down. There were shower curtains that could be pulled around the shower.
Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas
Parking & Transport
Average
I travelled to this place by walk or wheel
The hotel doesn’t have any parking facilities of their own. There is a car park directly behind the hotel which is called St David’s Multi Storey. There are two bus stops further up the road from the hotel called St Mary’s Church 1 and St Mary’s Church 2. The hotel is roughly 450 metres away from Swansea Bus Station and roughly 800 metres away from the railway station.
Accessible facilities: Public or on street parking
Staff
Excellent
The staff were great. When we had to do the paperwork around evacuation, they came and sat at a table with me as the reception desk was really high. They also showed me to my room and showed me where the closest refuge point was and the evac chair. Whenever I asked, someone was always quick and happy to help me with any doors as well.
