Premier Travel Inn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Premier Travel Inn | |
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| Type | Public owned by Whitbread Plc |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Headquarters | Luton, England |
| Area served | United Kingdom |
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Website | http://www.premiertravelinn.com |
Premier Travel Inn 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 Granada.
It has since grown to become the largest hotel chain in the United Kingdom with more than 470 hotels across the UK including two in Northern 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 this policy has been somewhat diluted, however most rooms are remarkably similar.
In 2004 Whitbread acquired the rival Premier Lodge from the Spirit Group for the sum of £505 million. 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.
In 2005 Premier Travel Inn acquired 7 hotels from Holiday Inn which were re branded under the Premier Travel Inn name.
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[edit] Locations
Premier Travel 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 were traditionally were a brewery, and are now a pub and hotel chain) ensures that PTI hotels are most often located next to a Whitbread Brewers Fayre family "pub"/restaurant.
[edit] Rooms
Rooms are very similar in all of the chain's hotels - perhaps even more than is the case with other chains. 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 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 Travel Inn revised their basic room design, but the rooms have the same level of facilities as before.
[edit] Pricing Policy
PTI's daily rate is per room, a practice welcomed by travel writers as more honest than the "near-fraudulent" policy of some UK hotels of quoting a per-person rate for a double room (so that they can quote a price which is half the room rate) but then doubling this when a booking is made by a person travelling alone (admitting that the room really is being charged per room, not per person). Premier Travel Inns quote prices of "from £47" on their web site, but most hotels have a minimunm rates 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, and prices are generally higher on weekday nights than at weekends). Unlike Travelodge (their closest competitor), PTI do not offer discounts for early bookings, although there are occasional special offers. Breakafast is available, but not included in the room rate.
[edit] Food
Most PTIs do not have a hotel-class restaurant - bur meals are often available in an adjacent "family-oriented" "Brewers Fayre" dining "pub". This is usually where a self-service buffet breakfast is served. Many newer city centre hotels do have their own integral resaurant, often branded as 'Slice'.
Breakfasts usually consist of two options. A full fried breakfast with all you can eat from the buffet selection of cereal, toast, croissants etc for £7.50, or the buffet selection only for £5.25. Up to four children, aged 10 or under, can eat breakfast for free when one adult purchases a full breakfast.
