Best Book Direct Hotel Review Policy
- We review many different hotel chains in the UK and always do so 100% anonymously.
- This means that we book and pay for the stay out of our own pocket, the hotels are never made aware of our booking either before during or after our stay. They are never informed that we are reviewing their facilities or service.
- The reviews we write and publish are 100% our own opinions and are in no way influenced by the hotel brands either during our stay or after, nor do they have any influence over what we write. We aim to give a full, transparent review of the hotel, and we will reveal the good, bad and the ugly!
- This is important so that we remain truly independent and you can be sure that you are reading a genuine real review which has zero bias.
Are Premier Plus Rooms Worth It?
The Best Book Direct website features a lot of independent information about the Premier Inn brand but we are not connected to the brand in any way, and we do not receive any commission if you stay with them. This allows us to honestly review and rate all of their services. Overall we do genuinely rate the brand as a good budget hotel provider here in the UK.
With this in mind here is a full review of their much talked about Premier Plus rooms from a stay at the Bristol Lewins Mead Premier Inn right in the heart of the city centre at the end of July 2023.
Premier Plus rooms are a relatively new feature in Premier Inn's and they represent the brands efforts to upscale the guest experience and squeeze a bit more money out of you in return for the pleasure. Travelodge are doing a similar thing with the introduction of their SuperRooms™.
The Best Book Direct website features a lot of independent information about the Premier Inn brand but we are not connected to the brand in any way, and we do not receive any commission if you stay with them. This allows us to honestly review and rate all of their services. Overall we do genuinely rate the brand as a good budget hotel provider here in the UK.
With this in mind here is a full review of their much talked about Premier Plus rooms from a stay at the Bristol Lewins Mead Premier Inn right in the heart of the city centre at the end of July 2023.
Premier Plus rooms are a relatively new feature in Premier Inn's and they represent the brands efforts to upscale the guest experience and squeeze a bit more money out of you in return for the pleasure. Travelodge are doing a similar thing with the introduction of their SuperRooms™.
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Don't forget that Travelodge now has over 600 hotels in the UK offering a very similar standard of accommodation to Premier Inn including the new SuperRooms™ hotels. On average Travelodge offer a discount of up to 50% compared to a like for like room at Premier Inn. It is worth looking into the Travelodge rooms for £38 or less deal.
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Travelodge SuperRoom
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On average you will pay between 10 and 15% more for a Premier Plus room above the standard room grade and currently about 200 out of the current 800+ UK Premier Inn hotel stock feature them.
The Premier Plus rooms tend to be located on the top floors of the hotel (presumably for better views and less disturbance) and are most commonly featured in the city centre hotels and newly built stock. We booked in for a two night stay at the Bristol city centre Lewins Mead Premier Inn where we found the staff were bright and friendly. All of the Premier Plus rooms in this hotel are located on the top, seventh floor and our room was number 703. |
Premier Plus Bed in Bristol
(Spoiler - it's only a double!)
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First impressions were good, the room was clean and bright and the different colour scheme looked a bit more special than the standard rooms with its tonal greys and teal headboard.
The room size looked the equivalent to a standard family room and because it was on the top floor it had a fixed non opening window and so you rely on the air-conditioning for your room temperature control...more on this later!
The room size looked the equivalent to a standard family room and because it was on the top floor it had a fixed non opening window and so you rely on the air-conditioning for your room temperature control...more on this later!
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The bathroom has different complimentary shower gels (choice of two) and there is a shower screen rather than a shower curtain over the bath. I was disappointed that our shower did not have a separate handset and was supplied with just the fixed high showerhead. The other differences compared to a standard room ensuite are subtle, you get a proper toilet roll rather than the more common single sheet dispenser in the standard rooms, a side wall light, different paint colour to the walls and a grey vinyl floor.
I think Premier Inn is missing a trick here and I would really like to see a demisting mirror area and a heated towel rail in the Premier Plus bathrooms. Those are two items which as well as being highly practical afford a slightly more 'luxury feel' which is what they are trying to convey. If you have ever used a Premier Inn bathroom you will know that after one shower or bath the large over sink mirror remains misted up and unusable for at least the next hour. Turning to the bedroom, my wife commented that the bed seemed small but I assured her it would be a King Size as detailed on the Premier Inn website room specification. There are some useful practical touches in the room, the small iron and ironing board is handy if you are staying a few days and the fridge has a couple of bottles of water (sparkling and still). The fridge is large enough to stand up a bottle of wine and fresh milk. One point to note is that the fridge is contained in a small cupboard below the fitted desk and it does emit quite a bit of heat. |
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The desk chair is upgraded to a more comfortable version although the actual desk size was the same as that found in a standard room. There is an additional comfy armchair with footstool and a movable side table which functions as both a bedside table or meal table for the chair, very useful, and finally a large handy stool for sitting or putting luggage on etc.
A USB socket has been added for the bed area but in our room this was only on one side of the bed and with no standard socket or USB for the opposite side... come on Premier Inn almost everyone has a mobile phone now and would like to be able to charge their phone by their bed at night!
There is an upgraded tea/coffee tray with some chocolates and a small coffee pod machine. Note when we arrived we got four coffee pods - two of each type which are currently Arpeggio (stong espresso) and Vienna Lungo (lighter) and two chocolates and you have to request for these to be replenished if you are staying beyond one night. I tried both flavours of the coffee and they were pleasant but not hot and nothing to get excited about.
A note about the wardrobe, this is the same size as in the standard rooms but comes with an LED strip light. They have clothes hangers pre-fitted but it is not big enough to hang long dresses in because of the space the drawer takes up on the bottom.
The room also has what is apparently upgraded art work on the walls from a Neurodiverse charity art project, in our room this was a piece from an artist called Gemma Evans. To my eye it was a typical 'modern art' type picture, non offensive, but I am not sure it added to the Premier Plus experience, however it is a nice touch to be supporting a worthwhile charity in this way.
A USB socket has been added for the bed area but in our room this was only on one side of the bed and with no standard socket or USB for the opposite side... come on Premier Inn almost everyone has a mobile phone now and would like to be able to charge their phone by their bed at night!
There is an upgraded tea/coffee tray with some chocolates and a small coffee pod machine. Note when we arrived we got four coffee pods - two of each type which are currently Arpeggio (stong espresso) and Vienna Lungo (lighter) and two chocolates and you have to request for these to be replenished if you are staying beyond one night. I tried both flavours of the coffee and they were pleasant but not hot and nothing to get excited about.
A note about the wardrobe, this is the same size as in the standard rooms but comes with an LED strip light. They have clothes hangers pre-fitted but it is not big enough to hang long dresses in because of the space the drawer takes up on the bottom.
The room also has what is apparently upgraded art work on the walls from a Neurodiverse charity art project, in our room this was a piece from an artist called Gemma Evans. To my eye it was a typical 'modern art' type picture, non offensive, but I am not sure it added to the Premier Plus experience, however it is a nice touch to be supporting a worthwhile charity in this way.
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Inclusive upgrade to the Premier Inn Ultimate WiFi
Included in the Premier Plus room upgrade is complimentary Ultimate Wifi worth £5 per 24hr if purchased separately. Is this worth having? The free Premier Inn WiFi service is fairly hopeless with very slow speeds (0.5 -1.0 Mbps) and a connection that frequently drops out so you would imagine an upgraded service would be very welcome....well yes and no, the Ultimate WiFi is in fact still slow at 4-8Mbps and limits you to connecting 3 devices. In practice we found that because we were staying in a city centre with full 5G coverage and on the top floor of a tall building the mobile signal was excellent and our standard mobile internet service was superior to the Ultimate WiFi. Of course in another hotel with poor mobile signal this would not be the case but you currently do tend to find the Premier Plus rooms in places with excellent 5G. Click here to read our full Premier Inn WiFi guide. |
Complimentary Ultimate WiFi is included - but you may not need it...
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So how well did this upgraded room work for us?
Well in truth not well. For context I have stayed in this same hotel several times before in the standard rooms so I can make a direct comparison, the standard rooms all have King Size beds.
Well in truth not well. For context I have stayed in this same hotel several times before in the standard rooms so I can make a direct comparison, the standard rooms all have King Size beds.
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The first issue we experienced was the room was uncomfortably hot. The weather temperature during our stay had highs of 19℃ during the day with overnight lows of 14℃. The air-con is the standard system you find in the standard rooms and our control panel could not be set below 19℃ and judging from the fact that the button to try and lower the temperature had been punched out by repeated use I suspect previous occupants had also tried to get the room cooler.
We spoke to the reception staff on the first night about the hot room and they promised to adjust the air-con to make it cooler but the panel was still stubbornly fixed at no lower than 19℃. I suspect that confounding problems that make these rooms extra hot are firstly the fact that they are located at the top of the building, it was noticeably cooler on the ground floor and restaurant area, secondly the room fridge acts as a permanent heat source and finally the sealed window prevents you getting any benefit from cooler external air through the night. |
The air-con would not go below 19℃ and the lower temp button has taken a hammering...
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A standard double sized mattress in a Premier Plus room!
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Our sleep was further disturbed by what seemed to be a much smaller bed than any previous King Size bed we had ever experienced.
After a second uncomfortable night I became convinced that this bed was not the promised King Size and decided to pull up the mattress protector and find out.... and as the image reveals it was in fact a 150 x 200, or standard UK double! I raised the fact that our bed was only a double with the reception staff having assumed that this must have been some weird one-off mistake in our particular room, but I was astounded to be told that a double bed is in fact standard across all of the Premier Plus rooms in this hotel! |
Come on Premier Inn you really need to get this fixed, which marketing genius would ever think that the formula for a room upgrade would involve giving your guests a downsized bed! On a more serious note these rooms are effectively being mis-sold since the Premier Inn.com website states that you get a King sized bed in Premier Plus rooms.
I would add that we have brought the issues we experienced with our room to the attention of Premier Inn guest services and we expect that the issues we have highlighted, especially the bed types will be promptly addressed. We will update this page as and when we get a response....see below
Update from Premier Inn Guest Services:
Nearly three weeks after bringing the issues of only having a double sized bed in a Premier Plus room plus air-conditioning which would go no lower than 19℃ we received the following official response:
"I have been advised that indeed there are double beds in all Premier Plus rooms in this hotel, however, this is outlined on the hotel's website. Additionally, as per our brand standard the air-conditioning cannot be lowered below 19 degrees. The hotel also confirmed that there were no issues with the air-conditioning system in this hotel during your stay."
I have no idea what checking the hotel's website means but I can confirm that in the detailed section outlining this Premier Inn's facilities on the premierinn.com website it makes no reference to there only being double beds in all the Premier Plus rooms. The presumption is that guests need to telephone the individual Premier Inn and confirm the bed size prior to booking.
I was also surprised to hear that it is impossible to get your room temperature any lower than 19℃ in any Premier Inn. UK guidelines recommend that a comfortable room temperature for sleep is between 16℃ to 20℃, so at a minimum of 19℃ for Premier Inn rooms this is certainly towards the upper end of comfortable temperature scale. Personally I find it difficult to sleep in a room warmer than about 17℃ and I like fresh air in a room rather than recycled.
Obviously setting the air-conditioning temperature higher will save a lot of electricity for the hotel brand, but this may mean an uncomfortable nights sleep for many guests which might mean losing loyal customers in the long run.
I would add that we have brought the issues we experienced with our room to the attention of Premier Inn guest services and we expect that the issues we have highlighted, especially the bed types will be promptly addressed. We will update this page as and when we get a response....see below
Update from Premier Inn Guest Services:
Nearly three weeks after bringing the issues of only having a double sized bed in a Premier Plus room plus air-conditioning which would go no lower than 19℃ we received the following official response:
"I have been advised that indeed there are double beds in all Premier Plus rooms in this hotel, however, this is outlined on the hotel's website. Additionally, as per our brand standard the air-conditioning cannot be lowered below 19 degrees. The hotel also confirmed that there were no issues with the air-conditioning system in this hotel during your stay."
I have no idea what checking the hotel's website means but I can confirm that in the detailed section outlining this Premier Inn's facilities on the premierinn.com website it makes no reference to there only being double beds in all the Premier Plus rooms. The presumption is that guests need to telephone the individual Premier Inn and confirm the bed size prior to booking.
I was also surprised to hear that it is impossible to get your room temperature any lower than 19℃ in any Premier Inn. UK guidelines recommend that a comfortable room temperature for sleep is between 16℃ to 20℃, so at a minimum of 19℃ for Premier Inn rooms this is certainly towards the upper end of comfortable temperature scale. Personally I find it difficult to sleep in a room warmer than about 17℃ and I like fresh air in a room rather than recycled.
Obviously setting the air-conditioning temperature higher will save a lot of electricity for the hotel brand, but this may mean an uncomfortable nights sleep for many guests which might mean losing loyal customers in the long run.
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Summary and verdict...
The GOOD:
The BAD:
The UGLY
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Current Premier Plus room bed specification on the premierinn.com website
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Would I pay the extra and stay in a Premier Plus room again...
Based on this experience, no definitely not, and that came down to two fundamentals - hot stuffy room and a small bed, both problems I have never previously suffered when staying in the standard rooms.
If you are traveling alone then the double bed size would probably not be an issue but it is certainly likely to be if you are a couple.
It is possible that this Premier Inn has some unique problems with its Premier Plus rooms but we suspect that overheating may be more widespread because of the top floor locations, sealed windows, hot fridges and air-con restricted to go no lower than 19℃.
I would hope that the double instead of the king size bed installed in all the Premier Plus rooms in this particular hotel is not common across the other 200 hotels featuring these rooms. Hopefully the brand will address this anomaly, (although guest services at Whitbread do not see currently see this as an issue) but the brand really needs to update their promotional material to make it clear that a king size bed is not guaranteed in these premium rooms.
Top tips
If you are thinking of booking a stay in a Premier Plus room we would recommend that you use this list of all the current Premier Plus Room hotels before booking and ask the following essential questions:
Nice to have:
Finally:
Based on this experience, no definitely not, and that came down to two fundamentals - hot stuffy room and a small bed, both problems I have never previously suffered when staying in the standard rooms.
If you are traveling alone then the double bed size would probably not be an issue but it is certainly likely to be if you are a couple.
It is possible that this Premier Inn has some unique problems with its Premier Plus rooms but we suspect that overheating may be more widespread because of the top floor locations, sealed windows, hot fridges and air-con restricted to go no lower than 19℃.
I would hope that the double instead of the king size bed installed in all the Premier Plus rooms in this particular hotel is not common across the other 200 hotels featuring these rooms. Hopefully the brand will address this anomaly, (although guest services at Whitbread do not see currently see this as an issue) but the brand really needs to update their promotional material to make it clear that a king size bed is not guaranteed in these premium rooms.
Top tips
If you are thinking of booking a stay in a Premier Plus room we would recommend that you use this list of all the current Premier Plus Room hotels before booking and ask the following essential questions:
- Confirm the bed size if traveling as a couple, it may not be a king-size.
- If you are staying during the warmer months consider the potential issues with room temperature. Ask if the windows do open so that you can benefit from cooler night-time air and if not bear in mind that Premier Inn restricts the air-con from going below 19℃.
Nice to have:
- Does the shower have a separate handset?
Finally:
- Don't forget to ask to have your upgraded room service tray replenished for each day of your stay.
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