So, I decided to try out different Hotels…… While I was staying in Hemel Hempstead the last few weeks, due to not being able to drive home after my knee op, i decided to try out a few different hotels 🏨 First, I tried a Travelodge (2* budget hotel), it wasn’t too bad, apart from having only 30 minutes free internet 🛜 per day, not ideal when you need it for work 😂, lovely large room, accessible bath instead of a shower, which wasn’t ideal. Lovely staff too 👌 My first impression though, I wondered what I was walking into, there were alcoholics & drug addicts hanging around outside, when I arrived in the evening 🙈 But, I soon realised first impressions aren’t always correct. I got speaking with a few people including the staff & some homeless people who would hang around outside. It was actually quite sad 😔 most of them were homeless & staying in the hotel while waiting for temporary accommodation, one guy was in a motorised scooter, one was end stage liver disease, from being an alcoholic. She had lost all her family the same way & was only in her 40’s. An elderly lady was an aggressive alcoholic, would swig a bottle of Gin/Wine from 9am in the morning & constantly argued with her husband previously & staff at the hotel, she needed a lot of help. There were others fleeing domestic abuse & some people were in the hotel due to their houses, which had burnt down. I spoke to an elderly gentleman who actually told me he had been on the streets for 11 years & actually couldn’t live in a house now, which I thought was awful 😢. He had got so used to being on the streets. I know some people won’t help themselves & unfortunately they are lost causes, but some genuinely want to change their lives & I think, if they had the support alongside the housing, they could change for the better. It’s a vicious cycle, without a home address they can’t get a bank account, without a bank account they can’t get a job, they can’t keep clean or have decent clothes to go to an interview, how are they ever going to change? Although I had read somewhere that some bank was going to help homeless people get a bank account, not sure if it’s true…. I managed to learn a lot from just taking my time speaking to these people 👌 The last 2 hotels had free WiFi & breakfast, but very noisy, they were 3* star hotels. Amazingly, the Travelodge was the quietist, which considering the type of people living there, you might have thought otherwise, again being stereotypical isn’t always the best way to think 🤔 What’s other people’s thoughts 💭 or opinions on this? Watch this space, Follow my journey into Social Housing ……

Posted by Dee at 2025-11-21 15:52:55 UTC