Premier Inn

Infobox Company
company_name = Premier Inn
company_
company_type = Public
foundation = 1987
location = Luton, England, UK
key_people =
area_served = United Kingdom
United Arab Emirates
Republic of Ireland
industry = Hospitality
products =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent = Whitbread
subsid =
homepage = http://www.premierinn.com
footnotes =

Premier Inn (formerly "Premier Travel Inn") is the UK's biggest hotel brand, with over 32,500 rooms and more than 500 hotels and motels. Originally opened under the "Travel Inn" brand name in 1987, it has been owned by Whitbread during its entire operation and was set up to compete with the Travelodge brand which was at the time owned by Forte.

History of Travel Inn

The first set of Travel Inns were built and opened next to Beefeater sites during the late 1980s. Some of the sites included Basildon (1987), Cheltenham West (1988), Gloucester Longford (1988) as well as many others across the UK.

Since 1987 the hotel company has since grown to become the largest hotel chain in the United Kingdom with more than 500 hotels across the UK including two in Northern Ireland and one in the Republic of Ireland

Like Travelodge it has a policy of mostly using new build hotels where all rooms are identical. However over the years and due to purchases of other properties, such as Holiday Inns, late 2007 Tulip Inns and mid 2008 over 20 Express by holiday inn this policy has been somewhat diluted, however most rooms are remarkably similar.

History of Premier Lodge

Premier Lodge was a chain of 141 hotels owned by the Spirit Group. In 2004 Whitbread acquired Premier Lodge for the sum of £505 million. [ [http://www.premierinn.com/pti/newsArticle.do?newsId=24762 UK hotel news - cheap quality budget hotels - Premier Inn ] ] This added an additional 141 hotels to the existing Travel Inn company and henceforth Whitbread re-branded all hotels as "Premier Travel Inn". The move to change the name partly resulted from consumer confusion with Travelodge and a desire of Whitbread to utilise the 'Premier' name.

Hotels which were originally built as Premier Lodge feature slightly smaller rooms to other Premier Inn's, however they also had wider beds. This was a marketing tool used by Premier Lodge before its acquisition by Whitbread.

Locations

Premier Inn hotels are found in city centres and also on the outskirts of towns/cities on major A-roads. Unlike its competitor Travelodge it is rarely found in motorway service areas, concentrating on locations where they are allowed to serve alcohol. Ownership by Whitbread (who traditionally were a brewery, and are now a pub and hotel chain) ensures that all Premier Inn hotels, with the exception of motorside locations, all have a pub/restaurant onsite serving alcohol.

The chain has expanded to open a hotel in Dubai with intentions to expand in India [ [http://www.premierinn.com/pti/india.do Premier Inn] ] and the Persian Gulf [ [http://global.premierinn.com/hotels/ourHotels.action?DCMP=EMC-guestemail_mar08 Premier Inn Dubai Website] ] .

Rooms

Rooms are very similar in all of the chain's hotels. All contain a double bed or twin beds, desk area, shelves, colour TV and en-suite bath/shower room. Rooms with an extra sleep-on sofa and/or pull-out beds are called family rooms - they are not usually priced higher than standard rooms, but nor are they usually any bigger (more beds in the same space). Sites which were previously Premier Lodge hotels have slightly smaller rooms but with the wider beds which were a feature of Premier Lodge. In 2006 Premier Inn revised their basic room design, but the rooms have the same level of facilities as before.

From 1st January 2008, all rooms are non-smoking.

Pricing policy

Premier Inn's daily rate is per room, regardless of how many people occupy the room (max 2 adults and 2 children). Premier Inn quotes prices of "from £48" on their web site, but most hotels have a minimum rate of £55 or above. The price depends on location and day of the week: as with most hotel chains, higher rates apply within London and in other popular destinations.

All hotels have two different rates, a Monday-Thursday and a Friday to Sunday rate (prices are generally higher on weekday nights than at weekends due to the demand from business travellers on those nights). Unlike Travelodge (their closest competitor), Premier Inn do not offer discounts for early bookings. Breakfast is available either in the attached restaurant or pub, but not included in the room rate.

Facilities

All Premier Inns have restaurants either within the hotel or on the same site. The restaurants are all brand named establishments, such as Barest and Slice or pub-restaurant sites such as Beefeater or Brewers Fayre which are also owned by Whitbread, although sites are undergoing a refurbishment programme which will eventually see the replacement of the Brewers Fayre name with TableTable.Fact|date=March 2008

Breakfasts usually consist of two options. A full fried breakfast with all you can eat from the full English selection of bacon, eggs, beans etc. for £7.50, or the continental buffet selection only for £5.25. Up to two children, aged 15 or under, can eat breakfast for free when one adult purchases a full breakfast.However, at some Premier Inns, there is a full buffet breakfast option available, where the customer can get a self-service meal, in an "All you can eat" style. The pricing is similar to that of the standard breakfasts. This is usually found in the larger Hotels, such as 'London Heathrow (Bath Road)', and 'London Docklands (ExCel)'.

References

External links

* [http://www.premierinn.com/ Official Website]