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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Layla Nicholson & Julia Banim

Student lived in hotels through uni to save cash and said Travelodge is best

A woman has explained why she decided to ditch university accommodation in favour of Travelodges and Premier Inns.

Having worked out that it would be cheaper than staying in en-suite student accommodation, Esther decided to stay at a hotel once a week when she needed to travel up from London to Leicester for uni.

As previously reported by the Daily Star, the money-savvy student, ended up staying at a Travelodge once a week for nearly 32 weeks in a row.

As she would book the room the week before, it set her back £44 a time, before factoring in other costs such as £10 to £20 on food per day, and £15 to £20 for a return coach or train ticket.

According to Esther, this cost her just 'half of what a decent en-suite accommodation would’ve cost'.

Esther only needed to stay in Leicester once a week for uni (__esst/Tiktok)
She usually stays at the Travelodge, but recently decided to try Premier Inn (__esst/Tiktok)

What do you think about Esther's uni accommodation? Let us know in the comments...

Esther, who stayed in hotels while studying for her LPC LLM qualification, said: "I did not use a single discount code (no Travelodge discount on Unidays lmao) and food and travel not included.

"But even with both, this cost less than paying rent for an accommodation and buying my own food".

Many of Esther's followers were impressed with her smart thinking, with some keen to follow suit.

Many of Esther's followers have praised her savvy thinking (__esst/Tiktok)
Some say they'll do the same while studying for their masters' degree (__esst/Tiktok)

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One inspired future student wrote: "Ohhh I think I might do this when I go to do my masters, makes more sense and I don’t really fancy halls. Thank you for sharing".

Another advised: "I live in hotels, the best discount you can get is 50 per cent off but you need to work there to qualify for the discount, unless you know someone who works."

However, Esther also made sure to remind people that this hack really only works if you're studying for a postgraduate qualification, as undergraduate degrees typically require you to stick around campus full-time.

For Esther, this set-up made sense as 'Masters is max two days a week', meaning that she only had to stay in Leicester once a week.

Esther usually books a Travelodge room, but recently tried out Premier Inn for the first time, staying there in week 32 out of 37.

She gave her overall stay a strong 8/10, but appeared to still prefer Travelodge, explaining: "All my Travelodge rooms have been bigger, and the staff are friendlier (but maybe that’s just because by week five they were used to seeing me lol)."

Do you have a money-saving story to share? We pay for stories. Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com

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