Travelodge review: Overnight stay at knutsford travel lodge. Fire incident monday 4.30am

When we stayed at the Travel Lodge for one night on Sunday 14/08/22 the fire alarms went off during the night at about 4.30am on the Monday morning 15/08/22.

The fire exit signs within the building were well signposted, however the fire point assembly signposts and area were not, which led to confusion as the alarm went off in the middle of the night with a real fire that occurred downstairs.

The receptionist seemed to be dealing with the incident professionally but with little other support carried a lolly pop sign showing where we were to gather after a considerable time lapse from when the fire alarm was first sounded. This meant that people were milling around some returned to sit in an adjoining building to where the fire was burning.

The fire engine arrived quiet promptly, however 30 minutes after the fire alarm sounded there were people upstairs on the second floor staring outside from there rooms and had not evacuated the building that was on fire.

I have been part of an emergency response team for many years and it was disappointing to observe a real incident which was handled so poorly. with very little support for the people (or person) who were trying to control the incident. Perhaps next time when a fire or similar incident occurs there may be a far more serious outcome of injuries or fatalities'. Is this also occurring at other Travel Lodges?

The receptionist is to be commended for the good work that she did in a calm professional manner. It was good to see her handing out aluminium sheets so that people could stay warm, please do pass on our thanks to her.

It however was disappointing that the signage to the fire assembly point was just about non existent. Eventually we found one sign to the fire assembly point after a search of the outside of the building. The sign had been turned upside down and pointing inwards so it was very difficult to see.

May I suggest that a fire point assembly point should be a dedicated area well signposted with a permanent signpost, additional signs to the area should be easy to find.

May I suggest that a well drilled trained team of four people are required to control future incidences.

I am also disappointed that I have received no feed back from the review that we left from our room on 14/08/22. I look forward to your response from my compliant