Hotel Chains Discussion

[weepingwillowb]

The last two chain hotels I've stayed at in the UK have happened to be Travelodges, and the shower gel dispenser in both rooms has been empty when I went to have a shower. The first time it happened I assumed it was broken, but when it happened a second time I checked the dispenser, and, as far as I could tell, there was either an empty gel sac inside or there was nothing. Anyone else come across this? I wondered if Travelodge was economising.

 

[Kite159]

The last two chain hotels I've stayed at in the UK have happened to be Travelodges, and the shower gel dispenser in both rooms has been empty when I went to have a shower. The first time it happened I assumed it was broken, but when it happened a second time I checked the dispenser, and, as far as I could tell, there was either an empty gel sac inside or there was nothing. Anyone else come across this? I wondered if Travelodge was economising.

I've noticed that a few times, either the shower gel dispenser was empty or the soap dispenser by the sink.

Probably then trying to save money by decreasing the time the staff can spend making up the rooms.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm not sure why they even provide it. I take my own, and the dispensers seem to attract black mould. They could always sell travel sized bottles at the reception if you've forgotten as e.g. YHA do.

I'd consider it an expectation at a full service hotel but not a Travelodge.

 

[Blindtraveler]

A few years ago Travelodge ask people if they wanted it or lower rates and and the vast majority he said they wanted shower gel. Unfortunately the one that Travelodge seem to you it doesn't smell very nice and is a bit watery. Could be that they had enough complaints from people like me and her in the middle of changing supplier which may also involve changing dispenser

 

[Runningaround]

It's the Wetherspoons / McDonalds effect really...I know no matter where I stay in the UK if I book into a Travelodge or Premier Inn I'm going to receive a pretty identical experience every time (even down to the painting hung up on the wall!) and it'll generally be a reasonable stay

I do strangely have a slight addiction to watching "Four In A Bed" on TV though!

As a nation the UK is like the USA quite dull and predictable in its fondness for familiarity and preference for dullness and mediocrity. Many prefer to stay safe even when the usual option is worse and often more expensive. Being bold would mean going to Cafe Nerro instead of Costa Coffee, a Subway and it's choice of ingredients is possibly at the limit of our imagination.
If it's bland, tastes cheap and is exactly the same in each location then you're onto a winner. Wetherspoons, Greggs, Mcdonalds, Premier Inn and Travel Lodge no matter how often the regulars get stung by bad service inedible food or just being boring they keep returning.
Look at Trip Advisor the most common reviews are ''It's a Spoons you get what you pay for '' or ''this is Premier Inn you know what to expect''. What does that mean? I know there normally crap or overpriced but I'm happy with that so stick with it.
No matter how bad their experience is they keep going to them and will often get a poor experience again they don't even think that the local pub, cafe or shops are actually as cheap and usually better but will always be different and a new experience.

 

[Runningaround]

The last two chain hotels I've stayed at in the UK have happened to be Travelodges, and the shower gel dispenser in both rooms has been empty when I went to have a shower. The first time it happened I assumed it was broken, but when it happened a second time I checked the dispenser, and, as far as I could tell, there was either an empty gel sac inside or there was nothing. Anyone else come across this? I wondered if Travelodge was economising.

Why would anyone use them unless you like to smell the same as all the other guests who use it and anyone else who'd decided to and anyone familiar will know you stayed in Travelodge last night
I always take my own not just because it's better it's not as feminine as the hotels supplies and I don't have to worry that they forgot to fill it up. It's only toilet paper I worry about not having in the room.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So I stayed last night in the Premier Inn Llandudno, which is a particularly interesting one because it's a new build which has been designed to look exactly the same as the (condemned) old building which formerly stood on the site, a bit like the McD's building at Liverpool St station, even to the extent of there being a false stepped-up grand entrance with a false letterbox on it!

What's curious about it is that despite this it has a number of very odd design features inside, such as the reception is downstairs requiring a small wheelchair lift, the rooms have oddly stepped ceilings and there's a pillar blocking the view from one lift to the next so you can't see which is closer. Were they, I wonder, required to build the *interior* exactly the same as the old building too?

OT: Hoping for 197011 to stay out all day, not quite sure when I'll get a ride, possibly Betws and back at lunchtime or after work. (More places to sit and work at Llandudno than Betws). Or potentially I drive to Betws for lunch on check-out and do it backwards, as parking there all day on a Friday should be fairly easy. Though that's not the reason for the stay, just a convenience co-incidence!

(The actual rooms are standard "new PI" and are fine, though I don't like the new desk chairs as the arms are a bit narrow for my ample backside)

 

[Mojo]

I'm not sure why they even provide it. I take my own, and the dispensers seem to attract black mould. They could always sell travel sized bottles at the reception if you've forgotten as e.g. YHA do.

I'd consider it an expectation at a full service hotel but not a Travelodge.

It’s quite a new thing for Travelodge to provide shower gel in the first place - they’ve only started doing it in the past decade or so, prior to that you just had a wrapped miniature soap bar by the sink.

 

[ChrisC]

The Hampstead Premier Inn in Belsize Park London, is currently completely closed and according to a few reviews on Tripadvisor it’s for refurbishment. I used to stay there regularly when visiting London as it’s in a great location and always had lovely staff. Even when I first stayed there about 15 years ago it was looking tired and in need of refurbishment. I gave up on it about 6 years ago because the state of it was getting so appalling for the high prices they were charging. What made it worse was that on each floor at each end of the building there were four very small rooms which were way below standard for a PI with hardly any space to even get down the side of the bed and no space for the usual chair. The staff tried not to allocate these rooms for people staying for stays of more than a couple of nights but as there were over 30 of these small rooms it was very much bad luck if you got one.

You only have to read recent tripadvisor reviews to see how dire this PI has become in recent years. In this case you do not always know what you are getting at a Premier Inn. I presume that the hotel is either having a very extensive refurbishment or has closed completely. They are not even taking bookings for as far ahead as next May. It was so bad and dated that perhaps only completely gutting some parts of the inside and making all rooms standard size will bring this place up to usual PI standards.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It’s quite a new thing for Travelodge to provide shower gel in the first place - they’ve only started doing it in the past decade or so, prior to that you just had a wrapped miniature soap bar by the sink.

It's probably cheaper. A lot of people don't use it, whereas a lot of Travelodge customers will nick the bar of soap whether they use it or not.

 

[DelayRepay]

It's probably cheaper. A lot of people don't use it, whereas a lot of Travelodge customers will nick the bar of soap whether they use it or not.

Is it 'nicking' it if you've paid for it as part of your room rate? Whether you use it or take it away unused, the cost to Travelodge is the same.

 

[trebor79]

Is it 'nicking' it if you've paid for it as part of your room rate? Whether you use it or take it away unused, the cost to Travelodge is the same.

Hotels always seem to waste tons of soap themselves. If I'm staying more than one night, it's almost inevitable that the soap is removed and replaced with a new one every day, even if I might only have used it once. Never understood why they do that.

 

[Flying Snail]

Is it 'nicking' it if you've paid for it as part of your room rate? Whether you use it or take it away unused, the cost to Travelodge is the same.

If they've gone so far as to ask the question "provide toiletries or a rate reduction" then it very much is not theft.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is it 'nicking' it if you've paid for it as part of your room rate? Whether you use it or take it away unused, the cost to Travelodge is the same.

It isn't really nicking it, but the point is that it is still a cost to them.

 

[DelayRepay]

I think the comments regarding Best Western are too much of a generalisation and certainly not true about many of their hotels. I am very aware that there are some terrible dire Best Western Hotels but there also many very good ones. Many of the best ones rarely appear on the list when you do a search of an area for specific dates because they are regularly fully booked, often by returning guests who have been staying there for years. Doesn’t that indicate that there are some very good ones.

The problem with Best Western, being a network of mainly privately owned hotels, is they are very inconsistent and there is a danger that you could book yourself into a terrible one. I always do lots of research and read lots of reviews and have fortunately over the years managed to avoid the bad ones. Over the last 3 years, due to Covid, their reward scheme has been extremely generous and I have been upgraded to their top level after only a few stays. I have received some lovely room upgrades and enough points to book half a dozen free nights.

I stayed in a Best Western in Sheffield this week. It was a last minute trip and the Premier Inn was full. When I arrived I realised I'd stayed there before, quite a few years ago when I think it was a Hilton.

I thought it was fine for the price. The room was clean and tidy, although a little dated. As an ex-Hilton they have a pool and gym although I did not get chance to use them. It was better than I was expecting given some of the previous comments on this thread.

My only real complaint was when I got to my room, at about 8pm, the window was wide open so the room was freezing. I imagine this is some kind of Covid ventilation measure.

 

[Howardh]

''this is Premier Inn you know what to expect''.

I've stayed at premier Inns, Holiday Inns and Ibis's etc, while they aren't the Ritz they are jolly decent. Ibis gives you a plastic chair which is unusable, but apart from that they are clean, warm spacious, have bars and somewhere to eat, comfy beds, kettle + coffee etc, can't find an issue with them. Stayed in more "upmarket" hotels and had a much worse experience - creaking draughty rooms, dirty floors, dirty windows etc.

Recently my worst experience was staying at a Britannia near the airport, £50 so can't complain about the price!, the room and bed was perfectly adequate but the previous guest must have spent all night in the bathroom smoking, as the stench was awful - and no extractor fan/window.

 

[Bletchleyite]

PI actually uses "you know exactly what you are getting" in a positive way on their ads!

Travelodge on the other hand...

Meanwhile as I have said I would rather kip on a park bench than stay in a Britannia, even if it was free. Never, ever will any of my money darken their tills.

 

[Howardh]

Meanwhile as I have said I would rather kip on a park bench than stay in a Britannia, even if it was free. Never, ever will any of my money darken their tills.

Apart from the issue I mentioned above about smoking; I've never had an issue with Britannia. I would if it were £100+/nt, but I choose my hotel carefully, ie. Central Manchester OK, Brighton not so much, and only stay there a night or so and has to be under £60. Admits though, I wouldn't book more than two nights just-in-case!!

The one on Palatine Road acting as an airport hotel, I'd certainly use again unless one of the airport hotels was not much more in cost - they never are though!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I won't stay in a dirty hotel even for free. I'm fine with basic, even to the extent of a YHA dorm, but not dirty. And Britannia have a reputation for poor cleaning.

It is what puts me off TL too.

 

[DelayRepay]

The few occasions I've stayed in Britannia hotels, I've had a feeling of sadness. They own some lovely old buildings, which would once have been grand hotels. But they're so neglected and run down that it's almost upsetting.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The few occasions I've stayed in Britannia hotels, I've had a feeling of sadness. They own some lovely old buildings, which would once have been grand hotels. But they're so neglected and run down that it's almost upsetting.

Agreed. It's hard to imagine that the awful Adelphi used to host the White Star Line's wealthy First Class passengers before their voyage. I really wish they would go bust so they could be sold to a company that would care for them. Even turning them into flats would be better.

 

[D6130]

The Hampstead Premier Inn in Belsize Park London, is currently completely closed and according to a few reviews on Tripadvisor it’s for refurbishment. I used to stay there regularly when visiting London as it’s in a great location and always had lovely staff. Even when I first stayed there about 15 years ago it was looking tired and in need of refurbishment. I gave up on it about 6 years ago because the state of it was getting so appalling for the high prices they were charging. What made it worse was that on each floor at each end of the building there were four very small rooms which were way below standard for a PI with hardly any space to even get down the side of the bed and no space for the usual chair. The staff tried not to allocate these rooms for people staying for stays of more than a couple of nights but as there were over 30 of these small rooms it was very much bad luck if you got one.

This is exactly what happened to my favourite Glasgow Premier Inn, the one at Charing Cross (incidentally, the former Head Office of Yarrow's shipbuilders....a 14 storey mid-1960s tower block). It became increasingly rundown over the past 3-4 years and suddenly, earlier this year, was no longer bookable. Now it's reopened as a Britannia Inn and already - according to the latest reviews - one of the three lifts has broken down. I'm giving it one last chance on an overnight stay next week for the Forum meal, simply because it's very convenient for the venue, but I strongly suspect that it may be my last visit.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A new Glasgow one has opened, but I won't be staying there as apparently it has frosted windows, I guess this was for planning consent due to being close to another building.

 

[Howardh]

A new Glasgow one has opened, but I won't be staying there as apparently it has frosted windows, I guess this was for planning consent due to being close to another building.

I stayed in one like that in jersey, the majority of the window frosted but with a small edge around to see through. Could only open in a couple of inches too. Thing is, it wasn't overlooking another property, and although the hotel rooms adjacent could see through, nothing that a curtain couldn't hide. Annoyingly there were some superb sunsets, hidden by the frosted window.

Wish I could remember which hotel it was specifically, been to so many recently!

 

[Blindtraveler]

The new Glasgow st Enoch Premier Inn is excellent. Frosted Windows necessary due to the proximity of several other buildings including the one housing the Euro hostel. A couple of months after it opened I was staying there at the same time as a friend and fellow member of this forum was staying in Eurohostel
Lots of messages back and forth along the lines of "waving at you"
He later came over to the Premier for a decent filling feed at dinner time as he been on an overnight railtour the previous night and living off sandwiches. I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that if I want to stay in an area where there is Britannia and Travelodge at broadly similar prices I'll go for the Britannia. I've had very few problems and the ones I have had have been sorted out in a far more efficient way than Travelodge ever have

 

[Bletchleyite]

In the end it is to their credit that the window frosting is shown clearly on the page when booking so I was able to choose a different one.

 

[Mojo]

Hotels always seem to waste tons of soap themselves. If I'm staying more than one night, it's almost inevitable that the soap is removed and replaced with a new one every day, even if I might only have used it once. Never understood why they do that.

I've never ever had them take away any half used toiletries. They usually add a new one, but never had them take away a partly used one.

 

[Runningaround]

I've stayed at premier Inns, Holiday Inns and Ibis's etc, while they aren't the Ritz they are jolly decent. Ibis gives you a plastic chair which is unusable, but apart from that they are clean, warm spacious, have bars and somewhere to eat, comfy beds, kettle + coffee etc, can't find an issue with them. Stayed in more "upmarket" hotels and had a much worse experience - creaking draughty rooms, dirty floors, dirty windows etc.

Recently my worst experience was staying at a Britannia near the airport, £50 so can't complain about the price!, the room and bed was perfectly adequate but the previous guest must have spent all night in the bathroom smoking, as the stench was awful - and no extractor fan/window.

I prefer a local hotel, B & B or guest house even a pub with rooms (a true Inn) a good one will have the owner sharing the building and cooking you breakfast so the guests will have more respect towards the place and the owner likewise they are always unique. If I used the same chain everywhere I went it would be same room, same breakfast, same bar. Same goes for Wetherspoons pubs and as the people running them don't usually care they don't want the hassle with noisy guests who know likewise and use them.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I attended the Pete tong Ibiza classics show at the hydro in Glasgow last night and lodged overnight at the the Britannia Inn by Charing cross station. When this was Premier Inn it was always a disappointment as you go in expecting certain standards and come up empty. As another operators hotel you don't necessarily have the same expectations and given that the room I had was both in better condition and cleaner than the last time I stayed there in summer 21 I was not disappointed. I didn't mind not having the expensive £7 Wi-Fi as my own 5G data was almost certainly better and breakfast was tasty this morning. Only criticism was that the soap and shower gel had just been freshly replaced and the housekeeper haven't made sure that they were actually working before leaving the room which lent to a certain amount of fiddling with them to make them do this.

The 4 p.m. check-in and 10 a.m. check out our frustrating but this is a known fact when staying with Britannia so you can hardly complain when you know what you signed up for at point of purchase

 

[Runningaround]

I attended the Pete tong Ibiza classics show at the hydro in Glasgow last night and lodged overnight at the the Britannia Inn by Charing cross station. When this was Premier Inn it was always a disappointment as you go in expecting certain standards and come up empty. As another operators hotel you don't necessarily have the same expectations and given that the room I had was both in better condition and cleaner than the last time I stayed there in summer 21 I was not disappointed. I didn't mind not having the expensive £7 Wi-Fi as my own 5G data was almost certainly better and breakfast was tasty this morning. Only criticism was that the soap and shower gel had just been freshly replaced and the housekeeper haven't made sure that they were actually working before leaving the room which lent to a certain amount of fiddling with them to make them do this.

The 4 p.m. check-in and 10 a.m. check out our frustrating but this is a known fact when staying with Britannia so you can hardly complain when you know what you signed up for at point of purchase

How times have changed or is it, you are significantly older than when Pete Tong was famous?
Nobody who'd travelled to Ibiza 20 - 30 years ago ever bother about the hotel all it was for was somewhere to sleep and take a partner too. Her hotel was preferrable though.