by I tend to turn down party invitations when they need to stay all night. If I am at the host’s house, it will be quite late before I turn in (and I have no power not to say nightcaps). If I’m staying at a hotel, then suddenly the whole thing is a bit expensive.
When my niece recently got married, I booked a cab on the way home from the center, and it was still half the price of the hotel of choice. But when I was invited to a dress ball in Dover with a group of my favorite people, there was no choice.
The Premier Inn at the Eastern Ferry Terminal was a four minute walk from the party, and it was £39 for a double room, which I couldn’t believe. That’s less than the cost of a full English at Claridge’s. Or a 15 minute Uber when it’s raining. What do I think a room at such a price might be like? These are dragons, sure? Well, maybe not.
The brand won Best Hotel Chain at the 2022 Which? Awards (it has topped the chart every year since 2015, apart from 2020 when Sofitel took the lead – and came third this year), and won the UK’s Best Budget at the Business Traveler Awards 2023, for the 12th year. in succession. He has gained a following.
My experience was not only good. I found myself evangelical about the brand and I will not stop going on about it. “Breakfast was for ten and it’s unlimited! All the sausages included!” And it’s fun too: this week, Premier Inn announced the launch of its “lady’s milk” plate, with a raised motif to stop your Heinz getting into your egg, and vice versa. An innovation for the modern traveller; a solution to a problem none of us knew we had.
I might be happy easily, but I can eat a lot of bacon in ketchup and squeezed between two slices of toast. I worked out that if I ate 16 sausages I would get my 2,000 calories for the day, all before 10am and change from £10.
Everything about my stay at the Premier Inn was positive. Check in was easy. The room was spotless, with subdued décor. It was twice as good as those in many outrageously expensive city luxury hotels.
Everything felt crisp and white, with pleasant purple accents and a tasteful striped carpet. The lighting was kind, and everything was functional – reading lights on each side of the bed that worked independently, and well placed power points.
Crucially, the bed was perfect. Premier Inn is so confident in its product that it has a standalone website, premierinnathome.com, selling its beds, duvets, pillows (from £36 each) and mattress protectors.
I have encountered this before. I remember being so impressed by a Four Seasons bed in Marrakech once that I did a bit of digging and found that the brand was being sold online, but a king size would cost me close to £3,500.
In contrast, Premier Inn sells its Silentnight king-size beds for £1,209. The name is so popular, during last year’s Black Friday sale it sold a duvet and a pair of pillows every 60 seconds.
The 2022 Which? Award, as a result of a survey of 4,447 members of the organization and the public, noted that prices had gone up at Premier Inn by an average of 35 per cent, but the chain was still the second resort in the country, after Travelodge, which . average cost per night £89.
Drilling down, the survey revealed exactly what appeals most about Premier Inn – it gets five out of five stars for cleanliness and for matching room descriptions with reality. Guests said they felt quality was “pretty sure”. Contrast this with the Britannia chain, which came last in the survey for the 10th year running and scored two stars in every category, including cleanliness and bathrooms.
Premier Inn is a massive hospitality machine, and its efficiency makes you wonder why other budget hotel chains get it wrong. Last year it opened a new property in Canary Wharf, with 400 rooms over 28 floors; there are currently more than 840 Premier Inns in the UK.
It has more than 82,000 rooms and checks in around four million guests every month. That’s a lot of bacon and eggs served every day. Around 40 million eggs per year indeed. And many custom repeats. A selection of Premier Plus rooms have also been added, featuring Nespresso machines, chocolate, a fridge and “ultimate Wi-Fi”. You’ll pay around £20 extra for Premier Plus, but I’m not sure I’d take it when the entry-level offering is as good as it is.
My only experience of Premier Inn prior to Dover is their Brewers Fayre food offer at the hotel near Margate station. Whenever I visit friends on the coast, I always seem to take about two minutes on the train home and have a large gin and tonic in what is essentially a comfortable and well-stocked chain pub .
The cafe in the station itself is terrible, so I’m always glad the Premier Inn is there. It’s a place that has a lot of appeal, and is very inviting to the individual visitor with half an hour to do, but it doesn’t have the angst-inducing atmosphere of a generic 8am-opening Wetherspoons.
You can also get a great sauvignon blanc for under a fiver. I recently paid £12 at my local pub in Hackney for a glass of New Zealand gooseberry tinged white and I’m still in shock.
It seems that the reason why people love Premier Inn so much is that it does one thing, it does it well, and it does it cheaply. The Brewers Festival doesn’t appear to be anything other than a functional watering hole. And no one is going to have breakfast in bed at Premier Inn. It will never be out of place for a special occasion.
But at the same time, it is a perfect complement to your partner. If no one wants to be the designated driver, the Premier Inn is just where you want to be at 1am.
