I’ve definitely spent my  fair share of time in hotels, sometimes living in them for 6-12 months at a time.

A mixture of living in, holiday and business use of hotels, both in the UK and Overseas, has given me experience of all kinds of standards.

Over the last 5 years, since working back in the UK, I believe that most standards have been improving and believe this could be led by the new standards being set by the so-called ‘Budget Hotel’ chains.

I have stayed in a few different chains, but the one I have had most experience with has to be Premier Inn.

5 years ago I started to stay in these hotels for work. They have locations all over the UK and usually situated close to where I need to be. Unfortunately my earlier experiences were not great. Old and dusty rooms. Light wood furniture that looked like it was the cheapest they could find and generally not a very homely feel at all (Especially the purple carpets)

Premier Inn also seemed to lack some basic fundamentals for an overnight business stay. Like a decent TV? After all, I’m here for business so not going to be out and about at night. Good lighting in the room so I can catch up on some work? Oh and somewhere to plug my phone in at night.

The stays in these hotels, were far from being ‘Premier’

These experiences however are fast becoming a thing of the past. A few years ago Premier Inn started to build and furnish their hotels very differently. 

Gone was the awful purple carpets and in were a tasteful grey with purple and move stripes in them.

Gone was the purple headboard – in were the browns and greys, with a purple LED strip in them instead. all the light wood has also been replaced with a much more upmarket feeling dark wood.

Gone were the small and very square TV’s on the desks, that couldn’t get any signal – in were the large flat screen TV’s on the walls.

You can also plug in your laptop / USB or other device to watch your own media.

The have even listened about plugs and you can now find a plug socket next to the bed, although I have found that they have REMOVED the shavers plug from their bathrooms (How do I charge my toothbrush now).

Bathrooms in general have also been made simple, lighter and LESS Purple!!

Overall a Premier Inn room now looks and feels like a much more modern and upmarket hotel, with still very low prices when booked in advance.

If you haven’t stayed in a Premier Inn for a few years, maybe now’s the time to take another peek!