The Premier Inn and other chain hotels thread

[Critique]

In all my time on Metropol, I can’t ever recall a thread about big hotel chains. I suppose they don’t have quite the same magic as a Tesco Metro (RIP), but nevertheless…

It has come to my attention that Premier Inn have launched a ‘Next Evolution’ style of hotel room which looks, well, naff.




It looks like they’re trying to go for something stylish/more upmarket but I think it looks pretty bland and uninspiring. Yes they’ve got some purple accents in the headboard and chairs but otherwise there’s not much colour, and I’m not sure why they’ve replaced a proper desk with a little coffee table that nobody’s ever going to sit at for more than five minutes. I know it was an absolute nightmare as far as hygiene goes, but I’ve always thought the loss of the little purple sheet at the bottom of the bed was a shame too.

A new room design also seems a little premature, given that they still haven’t finished rolling out the existing room design to all hotels! Although in fairness to them, they’ve been rolling out the current design since about 2009, so they’ve only had 16 years to get round their estate…

[Philip]

It looks a bit more stylish than the existing design I guess, but does anyone really care what their rooms look like? When I book a Premier Inn it's because I absolutely know what I'm getting - it's a Premier Inn and nothing more, nothing less.

[Pete]

I do quite like the Premier Plus rooms although they've tried to squeeze some of them into older buildings that really can't handle it (the fridge is a big win obv)

Was needing to book a hotel for work the other day and noticed these new rooms with the coffee table instead of the desk and I'm torn. There's a definite annoyance that you have to eat your snacks on the bed but I've certainly worked from those desks and its messy not having a proper desk chair and sockets for your laptop etc

[cdd]

I've never actually stayed in a PI (!) but normally the idea is you work in some communal area. Which is okay(ish) until you need to do a call.

I see PI's page on these spaces is quite amusingly out of date...

[Pete]

I've never actually stayed in a PI (!) but normally the idea is you work in some communal area. Which is okay(ish) until you need to do a call.

I see PI's page on these spaces is quite amusingly out of date...

downstairs is for breakfast and, depending on the brand of restaurant, those sticky chicken goujons that i keep hoping will return through my sheer force of will

[MoeTheMan2025]

In all my time on Metropol, I can’t ever recall a thread about big hotel chains. I suppose they don’t have quite the same magic as a Tesco Metro (RIP), but nevertheless…

It has come to my attention that Premier Inn have launched a ‘Next Evolution’ style of hotel room which looks, well, naff.




It looks like they’re trying to go for something stylish/more upmarket but I think it looks pretty bland and uninspiring. Yes they’ve got some purple accents in the headboard and chairs but otherwise there’s not much colour, and I’m not sure why they’ve replaced a proper desk with a little coffee table that nobody’s ever going to sit at for more than five minutes. I know it was an absolute nightmare as far as hygiene goes, but I’ve always thought the loss of the little purple sheet at the bottom of the bed was a shame too.

A new room design also seems a little premature, given that they still haven’t finished rolling out the existing room design to all hotels! Although in fairness to them, they’ve been rolling out the current design since about 2009, so they’ve only had 16 years to get round their estate…

Oh dear! As someone who makes digital drawings every day, that coffee table is a travesty. I thought the desk was fine, and also feels more handy if you're eating anything while doing so (Burger King is my pick personally). Not "next evolution" at all, more next devolution.

[Andrew]

I’ve stayed in one of those evolution rooms (in Reading) and I liked the coffee table

I always find if you bring some food back, eating at the desk, with the TV right on top of you can be a bit awkward, sitting at a table felt better, almost like you were in a coffee shop. I felt myself sitting at the table more than I ever would at the desk, mainly because of the TV issue. Worth remembering when the desk flat to the wall concept was introduced decades ago the TV wouldn’t have been there, it would have been a small CRT TV on a side shelf.

You also get more shelves in the clothes storage area. There isn’t a drawer but I think I read that the drawers lead to people forgetting stuff.

There is the option of a low level light (in purple of course) in the bathroom, that throws out enough light to see what you are doing but doesn’t light up the whole room if you go in the middle of the night

[Charlie Wells]

There is the option of a low level light (in purple of course) in the bathroom, that throws out enough light to see what you are doing but doesn’t light up the whole room if you go in the middle of the night

This was one thing that I particularly liked when I stayed in the High Wycombe Central one. I've stayed in quite a few different Premier Inn hotels with work. I like to book the Premier Plus rooms where I can. The fridges are handy if there's a supermarket within a couple minutes walk. The espresso machines are also a bonus, provided the water container doesn't leak.

[Alexia]

As a semi-frequent flier needing airport hotels I am a Premier Inn convert having been a Travelodge loyalist - the latter messed us about a little bit despite being initially accommodating (no pun intended) during COVID, and on top of that they closed a lot of their locations.

Pros: I cannot fault the one at Stansted, even though the mandatory bus to get you there is £4 pp both ways, no return ticket and the buses are undersized for the volume of people using them and the frequency they run at (although anything bigger probably wouldn't be able to safely navigate the car parking areas). The breakfast is always great, the rooms are decently priced and as we tend to travel outside of peak months we get good rates - the Premier Plus rate in the winter is often the same as a normal room in the summer.

Premier Plus - meh, can take it or leave it. I don't use fancy schmancy coffee machines, the free bottle of water is welcome but the thing that made me laugh the most is that the shower fitting in the rooms is exactly the same one I have at home, which I bought off Amazon and is basically a Chinese no-name brand.

The beds are fine, but being an airport hotel the windows do not open and the air con is never powerful enough for me to stay comfortably cool.

I also partook of the new one on Guernsey for my last stay, it was high at £100 a night inc breakfast, but it was the cheapest one on the island for the time of year I wanted to visit within walking distance of St Peter Port town centre.

The one in Manchester Heald Green - basically the airport hotel - is tied to the Brewers Fayre restaurant and so breakfast is slightly different in that it isn't a buffet (or wasn't in August 2022 when we visited). Bit more oldy worldy. We're going back in December.


Slightly leftfield, but if anyone is going to Copenhagen I can reccommend the GoHotel chain - locations all over town but I use the one that is, again, within spitting distance of the airport - it's a 2 minute train ride to Tårnby or a 2 mile walk through the nice suburbs of Amager - bargain basement in that there are next to zero facilities in the room and the bathrooms are tiny, but comfy beds, great location and a good buffet breakfast and - most important consideration for a Nordic country - it is cheap, with rooms around £60-70 a night. Cannot fault them and will be making my 5th visit in two years come Easter.