After spending three nights at the local Holiday Inn here in Borehamwood, a mile down the road from where I live, I had to relocate to the Premier Inn a couple of minutes down the road, the Holiday Inn was totally booked up. I didn’t mind very much, while the stay at the 4* Holiday Inn was OK, I was almost looking forward to ‘downgrading’ to the 3* Premier Inn.
Part of the ever growing Premier Inn Hotel chain, the London-Elstree hotel has 120 rooms, restaurant, bar and meeting rooms. The hotel is entirely no smoking. To reach the 6 floors there are two lifts and a staircase. As a security measure to keep unwanted and uninvited visitors away, access to staircase and lift is by use of room keycard only – a security feature I really like and first encountered at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.
The Reception Area
Small but efficient with on average 2 people on duty, checking in is quick and easy, even at busy times on a Friday afternoon.
You are given your keycard and staff are happy to explain the facilities, bar and restaurant. Breakfast is served in the bar/restaurant area. Please remember that breakfast is not automatically included in the price of your room.At reception you can also buy extra credit for WiFi Internet access, first 30 minutes are free. The charge is £3.00 per 24 hours or £10.00 per week. As I am staying more than 3 nights, the week offer worked out cheaper – not that I have to pay for it in the first place.
If you are thirsty or hungry, vending machines can be found in the reception area – top row in one of them sells shaving kits and condoms (a funny sight, don’t know what parents of children will make of this, though).
As said before, to get to the room you take either the stairs or lift. Corridors are narrow but not so small it would be claustrophobic.
Room and Bathroom
Opening the door with your keycard works like all hotel entry systems. Just remember that at the Premier Inn you need to deposit your keycard into the receptacle in the wall to activate the lights, something not every hotel I have been has but I find very useful for those who forget to switch off the lights when leaving, lights will go out automatically after about a minute.
Having come from the Holiday Inn down the road, the room at the Premier Inn itself is of same, if not larger size. I was pleasantly surprised to find a double bed in the room, I really learned to detest twin beds. Decorated in the purple/cream colour scheme, you will also find either a table and chairs or sofa in your room as well as a large desk with flatscreen TV with FreeView channels and a desk fan (in addition to the heater/aircon in the corner of the room.
The bed is rather high but terribly comfortable. There is a notice that the pillows on the bed are firm, with soft pillows in the wardrobe area of the room (which is an open wardrobe opposite the bathroom area.
I sleep very badly at the best of times, even at home. I don’t have problems falling asleep, it’s the staying asleep I have problems with.
While my nights at the Holiday Inn were interrupted sleep all night through, here at the Premier Inn I found the first night of really good sleep in a long time, even without the aid of sleeping pill or melatonin. I woke up later than I normally do and felt refreshed and wide awake.
A kettle, cups and tea and coffee is standard in your room.
The bathroom
Smaller than the bathroom at the Holiday Inn, yet equipped with the same, sink, toilet bath and shower. Towels are provided, however if you use flannels, please remember to bring your own as there are none provided. As you are in a budget hotel, you will not find any free pens, pads or toiletries. However, at the sink you will find a large tub of Carex Foaming Hand Wash and the bathtub/shower has its own Imperial Leather tub with a combination shampoo and body wash.
The showerhead cannot be removed from the wall but I can say that the waterpower was superior to the Holiday Inn where the promised power shower was more like a trickle. Here the shower was strong and hot and very enjoyable.
All You Can Eat BreakfastIf you want to have breakfast at the hotel, you can chose between the Continental Breakfast/Healthy option or the All You Can Eat. Prices are slightly different.
You find hot and cold drinks, tea, coffee, apple, orange and cranberry juice in the bar area while the rest of the breakfast food is in the rear where the small but neat restaurant is found.
Chose your bread, crumpets or croissant with jam, cereals, yoghurts and fruit salad or dig into a hot cooked breakfast of tomatoes, hash browns, mushrooms, sausages, bacon, baked beans and fried or scrambled egg. If you want your eggs done different, just let a member of staff know, the same if you prefer vegetarian sausages (which are quite nice) to the ones on offer.
You will certainly not go hungry here.
Checking in/out
Checking in can be any time after 2pm while you are expected to leave your room by 12 noon.
Housekeeping will come in to do your bed, clean the bathroom and change towels unless you decide to keep them for another day by keeping them hanging. I noticed that housekeeping checked later in the afternoon after I had been in briefly and used a cup and glass, both were replaced immediately and extra cups were left.
I am certainly impressed with the standard of the hotel and can only say, it is way superior yet cheaper than the Holiday Inn up the road and when it comes to the food served, in particular dinner it is much tastier and better cooked but still a lot cheaper than at the overpriced Holiday Inn.
Neither in London nor Elstree, the “Premier Inn London-Elstree” is found towards the outskirts of Borehamwood in the business area with very easy access to the A1 (2 minutes) and M25 (Junction 23 South Mimms 2 miles). Parking is free for guests.
Warwick Road,
Borehamwood,
Herts WD6 1US
For those without a car, there is always train service on First Capital Connect towards Bedford in the north or St Pancras and Wimbledon in Central and South London.
Elstree & Borehamwood Station is just four stops from London Luton Airport (which is not in London either). Travel time to Luton Airport and/or St Pancras (Central London) is approximately 25-30 minutes with trains all through the night at 15 to 30 minute intervals during daytime and hourly during the night (check for changes and engineering works before travelling).
To reach the Premier Inn from the station you can either walk, a good 30-40 minutes walk across central Borehamwood passing the BBC Elstree Studies (where they film EastEnders and Holby City) and Elstree Studios (home of “Who wants to be a Millionaire”, “Red or Black” and of course “Big Brother”). If you can’t be bothered to walk, take the 107 bus towards Barnet Station which stops right outside the hotel. The 292 bus towards Colindale also goes into the general direction but turns into Manor way a block before the hotel, so get off there and walk the last few minutes to get to the hotel.
It will take you about 15-20 minutes to walk into the centre of Borehamwood, the shopping area, Tesco and studios.
Premier Night Sleep 
