Guest User
March 21, 2025
Our stay got off to an inauspicious start, when we arrived to find a slow moving queue and I was hurried to a self-check-in machine by a member of staff. I use a walking stick, and despite it being clear that I was struggling to use the machine I was urged to continue. Once I'd finally managed it, he asked if I had ordered breakfast. I said yes, and I'd also ordered dinner, so wondered what time the restaurant was open. He looked genuinely taken aback that I'd ordered the dinner & breakfast meal deal, and hurriedly told me it was a very limited menu, before adding that the opening hours were 6:30pm-9:30pm. The short opening hours were fine, but it was a very odd response. All inns are equal, but some are more equal than others... Having gotten the key card, we headed up to the room. The one reason I always choose Premier Inn for travel is that it's always consistent, which is great for my autistic daughter, and reliable for me when travelling for work. The first thing I noticed was the Premier Inn purple blanket missing from the bed. A small thing - and maybe even a change in policy - but that absence was consistent with a few other niggles about the room; a lack of enough towels for a twin room, crayon marks across the wall, no glass for water (just glass coffee cups). Plus a faint urine smell that I couldn't quite locate (though thankfully wasn't on either of the beds). As Premier Inn rooms go, it wasn't what I'd expect; not horrendous, but just a little off. Then we looked out of the window... Whilst on the other side of the hotel is a lovely water area, our window looked onto an overflowing bin area, and what seemed to be the staff smoking area. Granted, there's no guarantee of a good view at any town-center hotel, this was particularly grim. Outside the room, of two lifts one was out of service the entire stay, which isn't ideal when you can't do the stairs with mobility issues and so have to wait for people to travel up and down before setting off yourself. But, this was only an overnight stay, so, again, not too much of a major issue. We hung out in our room for a few hours, then headed down to dinner at around 7pm. As we were waiting, another duo entered the restaurant before us. Between us and them, we were the only people in there. The menu was, as promised, very limited - particular for a vegetarian with a milk intolerance - but we opted for fish and chips for my daughter, and a pizza for me, with tortillas and dip to start. When our order was taken, the same gentleman who we checked in with was on duty, and told us that our food would be around 30 minutes, as it's only a small kitchen and the other table had just ordered! By any reasonable assessment, this was just ridiculous. Nonetheless, we had time and I'd already paid, so we opted to wait. Drinks came quickly, but, incredibly, the tortillas and dip took ten minutes to arrive. Literally, just a bowl of salsa on a plate, surround by Doritos. Small kitchen notwithstanding, t