OT: Premier Inn pricing.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My main complaint was although a near new building, the room was cold when I got there. About 14C. You could heat it up using the noisy air-con unit. But that didn't heat the bathroom which was far too cold in the morning. The corridor outside was warmer. ;-) I assumed it was underfloor heating since no rads or whatever - just the box with the air-con unit.

Room was clean and more than adequate in size. Wasn't impressed with the bed - too firm with a too soft covering. And horrid sheets etc. Seemed to be some form of pure synthetics.

It would have been OK at half the price.

[Tim Watts]

Sure -

I stayed there 10 years ago, so YMMV :) But the Tripadvisor reviews look good.

It's 10 minutes walk from the Old Town and not much further to the station, local road was fairly quiet and civilised. We had one with a broken boiler, but they switched us to a better room at no extra charge, so no complaints there.

[Tricky Dicky]

I do not know if this still happens but when we booked an Easyjet flight so me years ago, I looked at their ticket price and compared a few others. On returning to Easyjet after a few minutes the price had gone up. I remembere d someone once said the site installed a cookie and deleting it returned th e original price when you went to their site, sure enough it worked, but I wonder how many other airlines, hotels etc. Do the same?

Richard

[David Lang]

If I boycotted companies for awful adverts I'd never buy anything.

[cl]

Or even the on-line price is lower than the at-the-counter price. We used an Ibis hotel a year or so ago and it was cheaper (by quite a bit) to sit in the lobby using their WiFi and book a room on-line, then go to reception and check-in.

[tim...]

The base price differs by hotel location.

It should be possible to get the posted price at THAT hotel

tim

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[tim...]

Though that only works for families

They tend to be more expensive per bed if you only want to use one bed (as on a business trip)

tim

[Mark Allread]

Thanks for that - I'll check it out.

[Roger Mills]

I don't know about Premier Inn specifically, but a lot of these chains charge a lot more to people who just walk in off the street than they do to those who pre-book - simply because they *can*.

[Tim Watts]

Yes - probably true - the 4 in a room is a pretty good deal, if you can fit!

[Bill]

In message , Tim Watts writes

+1 You know what you are getting, I use PI a lot for work and it's great to know what to expect, one less worry, even if you've never been to that specific hotel before.

Plus, unlike B&Bs, there is no embarrassment of arriving at 2 o'clock in the morning and looking as if I've just been dragged through a hedge backwards!!!!!!!!!!

>

[Bob Eager]

I think that's what I said!

[charles]

I shut my eyes when I go to sleep

[newshound]

I agree with you both about the adverts and the purple, but I have always found them spotless with excellent beds.

They are experts on price discrimination

I don't think I have ever used one at their minimum advertised price, I've always been constrained as to date and location, but I have always found them to give acceptable value.

[michael adams]

...

Actually I'm rather more worried about their claim, repeated on the TV ads and the website, that they "guarentee you a good night's sleep"

Something they seem to lay a lot of stress on.

Which to a cynic like me at least, they could only be really sure of, if they pumped something special into the bedrooms through the air conditioning ducts. Either that or impreganting the pillows.

Or failing that slipping micky finns in the cocoa

I find it all a bit creepy myself.

michael adams

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[Peter Johnson]

I think that sometimes they set a high rate to discourage the wrong sort of casual trade.

[Peter Johnson]

Can't remember if it was last year or the year before that Travelodge put out a press release complaining that PI's promoted rates were impossible or difficult to get. I think they said that they are never offered using the normal booking 'form' but that you needed to find the right part of the website to get them.

[charles]

I alway mage to find them - looking a couple of months in advance

[News]

In message , Chris French writes

Agreed. We spent a week exploring Newcastle, staying at a PI, with our son, then about 6 or 7. The PI was fine with a clean room and breakfast every morning. Near the city centre, free parking and, best of all for son, loads of restaurants a short walk away. A proper pub with decent beer and food, plus plenty of child friendly places like TGI Fridays, Frankie and Benny's etc. He had a wonderful time stuffing his face every evening.

We did have one slightly scary experience. One night, son awoke in the middle of the night, managed to let himself out of the room and went exploring. Got to the ground floor where the night porter intercepted him, worked out who he was and brought him back to our room.

[tim...]

IME PI rack rates seem to be of the same order as the similar quality places such as holiday inn express.

And the walk in rate is the same price as the one that the website will offer you, if you try to book a day when they are busy - you don't always get a better deal booking onine

tim