OT: Premier Inn pricing.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Does anyone understand Premier Inn pricing? Ended up using one recently. Original idea was to find a small country pub that did B&B, but they were all full, so Googled for the nearest Travel Lodge or Premier Inn. The PI was nearer at only about 20 miles away, and said prices from 49 quid. Got there and the cheapest they would do was 89. But checking online later, discovered it would be 68 the next day. I didn't check in until

9.30 pm, and they didn't appear to be busy by the number of cars in the park.

[Cursitor Doom]

Ghastly places. I would sooner sleep out in the rain than ever use one, owing to the awful Lenny Henry adverts.

[Bob Eager]

Most places, the 'rack' price (what you pay if you just turn up) is higher.

I have frequently booked online (or, longer ago, by phone) from just down the road. I remember paying (a whie ago) £42 for bed, dinner and breakfast at a major hotel near Heathrow. I booked from the side of the road a mile away. When I got there, the displayed price for punters was £68 room only.

[Dave Liquorice]

"Charge what you can get away with".

Surprised you've not come across the variation in hotel prices before or were you never out on OB's? Walk in and ask for a room and you'll pay dearly, book online from the carpark via your mobile device and you'll get a much better deal.

The rack rate has always existed and is what is displayed (by law?) at reception. I've stayed in places with the notice showing >£200 per person per night room only for

[Andy Burns]

Like airlines, hotels use yield management to set prices, they'd rather

*not* sell all rooms cheap, even fairly late in the day, to allow them to sell fewer rooms at top price at the last possible moment (i.e. to people like you) even if it means the room would have been empty if you hadn't turned up unexpectedly as far as they're concerned - statistically they make more.

[harry]

It's the same if you buy something at a builders merchant. Phone for a price.

The reason for this (and hotels)is they think you are ringing round severa l places for prices. So you get the best price. On the internet they know you have checked round.

[dennis]

I booked one in London using a friends and family discount voucher my daughter got from a collegue at work. It was quite cheap at about £49 and quite closs to the exhibition we were going to. The staff were vary helpful. It wasn't until we got back I found out the voucher had been done by the MD.

[Brian Gaff]

Hmm maybe the management used to work in the pricing department of a mobile phone pay as you go supplier? Brian

[tim...]

The one I stayed in was absolutely brilliant

large room, spotlessly clean, with the most comfortable bed that I think I have ever slept in, quiet location and curtains that kept the morning sun out

I need nothing more from a hotel

what a stupid reason for boycotting a hotel chain

tim

[damduck-egg]

For doing nowt but sleeping and washing if you want to be somewhere like catch an early Eurostar out of London they can be ok if booked far enough ahead to be reasonable but that applies to most of the cheap chains.

I actually did get a follow up phone call from them once when I actually bothered to fill in the online survey of how happy I was or whatever they called it. All I had said was that the energy saving lighting in the room was a potential fire risk and they wanted to know why.

Because it is so bloody useless to see by that if I stay again I'm bringing candles was my answer.

G.Harman

[Nightjar]

I looked into using a Premier Inn some while ago. I found I could only get the £49 price by booking at least a month in advance for an off-peak day. With only one week's notice, it was cheaper for me to book into a Mercure hotel than the Premier Inn.

[Bob Eager]

Indeed. Although a plus point is that the later adverts play Katie Melua.

[tim...]

The point about PI is, just like Travelodge, they widely advertise that a pre-booked price of half (or less) the rack rate should be available.

Most hotels don't do this, the offer price that you get when booking early online is an unknown surprise.

Accordingly, one might expect to actually be able to get the offered price somehow.

but, to answer the OP's question, this doesn't appear to be possible.

During my stays away from home for work I have often looked at the PI offer, and even putting in dates months ahead, trying days of the week that I thought would be the slack days, I have never been offered a price close to the posted offer.

Usually, it's just 10 quid off an £80+ rack rate, which for an uncancellable booking is simply not enticing enough.

I once booked a hotel in Portugal for around 30 Euro pm. When I got there the posted rack rate was near to 100.

But that was the summer rate and I was staying in November! - and it rained all week :-(

tim

[charles]

which is fine if there's one where you need to stay.

[michael adams]

Lenny Henry's bad enough, but it's that awful shade of purple they use that also does it for me.

Almost the colour of beetroot in fact.

michael adams

...

[alan_m]

They charge whatever they can get away with. Book in advance and its cheaper. Turn up without a reservation and its the most expensive. You may have found that booking on line just before turning up may have been cheaper. The from £49 price will be for advance booking in an off peak period.

Much like the pricing policy of budget airlines. In the not so distant past, at work the management were attempting to cut costs so all travel had to be approved by four people. I had to make a business journey and on the day I could first book the Easyjet flight the cost was around £50 return. However I had to fill in the approval form and walk it around the lower levels of management. For the higher levels of management the form had to be left with their secretaries and this resulted in days of delay. By the time I could book the flight the price had risen to close to £300 return! The policy has since changed.

[Tim Watts]

I like them - because I've not been let down - they offer a good (not excellent) predictable standard - and after travelling all day, I like predictability :)

Conversely, some of the B&Bs and fancy hotels I've been in have been dire - TVs falling off walls, waiting 20 minutes at the bar from someone to be arsed to turn up and serve. But for me, a hotel is somewhere to crash after a day out doing what we really wanted to be doing, so as long as it's clean, TV works and bathroom is spick and span, I'm happy :)

However, PI's attached eateries are a different matter altogether! They can range from perfectly decent (usually the inbuilt ones) to utterly crap (the next-door affairs).

For those times I actually want the accomodation to be the central part of a holiday, we tend to go to some sort of cabin in the woods (Forest Holidays or CentreParcs).

For foreign aways (eg Prague) the best accommodation for me has been tourist apartments - own kitchen, receptionist who can speak some English and most importantly, washing machine :)

[Tim Watts]

I've never managed the base line price for a PI. However, if staying a week, the daily rate is all over the place, so it's clear they use a very fluid pricing algorithm. Perhaps there's a particularly s**te day in February somewhere to the left of Wrexham where it's possible to get the base price!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Don't remember ever having to arrange my own accommodation on location.

I have a PAYG phone which can only go online via Wi-Fi. But the receptionist did check the online price on her phone and said it was only about a fiver cheaper than booking there and then. But then she would, wouldn't she? ;-)

[Mark Allread]

We're thinking of a short break to Prague - do you have a link/ recommendations please?