Phoenix Lodge, Glasgow

For our visit to Glasgow we looked at a large number of hotels when trying to decide where to stay.

We found a number of good hotels, with a lot of facilities, reasonably priced, but not in the centre of Glasgow. As we were flying to Glasgow we would be using public transport or taxis during our stay and the savings we would make in the hotel costs would be lost with the transport costs, if we had to keep travelling into the centre ...
...the city centre hotels with swimming pools etc. but these all seemed very expensive. As we were travelling mid-week we could not take advantage of some of the weekend deals.

After a family discussion we agreed that even if a hotel had a lot of facilities we probably would not use them a lot as we wanted to be out and about in Glasgow.

Our final choice was to look for travel type accommodation that we knew should be ... more

For our visit to Glasgow we looked at a large number of hotels when trying to decide where to stay.

We found a number of good hotels, with a lot of facilities, reasonably priced, but not in the centre of Glasgow. As we were flying to Glasgow we would be using public transport or taxis during our stay and the savings we would make in the hotel costs would be lost with the transport costs, if we had to keep travelling into the centre of the city.

We looked at the city centre hotels with swimming pools etc. but these all seemed very expensive. As we were travelling mid-week we could not take advantage of some of the weekend deals.

After a family discussion we agreed that even if a hotel had a lot of facilities we probably would not use them a lot as we wanted to be out and about in Glasgow.

Our final choice was to look for travel type accommodation that we knew should be clean and adequate and to eat out all of the time. After looking at some of the different choices we decided to book for a stay at a Premier Lodge, as the location was right in the centre of the city. We booked on-line for two rooms, for two nights. (£46 per room, per night). The web site was easy to navigate and you could check availability on-line. We made our booking and were given a booking code to tell the lodge staff on our arrival.

When we arrived at the Premier Lodge we were told that only one room had been reserved for us and this was in my son’s name. This I found very annoying as the whole point of booking on-line beforehand was to be sure that the rooms would be available on our arrival. I was also under the impression that the rooms had been pre-paid for when I made the booking, but the reception staff insisted that I had to pay for them and they needed to make a pre-payment authorisation on my credit card. Even though the total cost of the rooms was £184 they insisted that the authorisation should be for £280 in case we charged anything to our rooms. In total the whole checking-in process was not satisfactory and I have written to Premier Lodge about this. The staff at the hotel were very polite and apologetic about the confusion and booked us another room. The hotel staff explained that this was not the first time that a booking made through the central reservations system had not been correctly recorded.

The rooms were very pleasant and had a terrific view over Glasgow from the 11th floor. However, there was not a lot of storage space, but it was just adequate. All of the beds are three foot wide (put together to six foot for the double bed), so the double bed did seem very big. The television in one of the rooms did not work, but this was replaced within a couple of hours after we had reported it.

All of the rooms are en-suite with Tea and Coffee making facilities, cable TV and a hairdryer.

As this is travel accommodation, it is of course situated in the right place for travellers. In this case we were next to a train station and alongside the M8 motorway. Even though we were on the 11th floor the traffic noise was loud and continuous all day and night. During one evening the weather was very hot, but we could not have the window open because the traffic noise kept us awake.

Overall the rooms were pleasant enough, clean and comfortable and value for money.

The hotel did have a bar and a restaurant, although we did not use either of these as we went into the city centre to eat. They did look very comfortable and there seemed to be decent menu with prices that were not too high.

We may use Premier Lodge again, but I would need to be assured that if we booked on-line that the system would not lose our booking.

The hotel staff were very polite and this offset the earlier problems we had.

I received a reply from Nina Thomas, the Central Reservations Supervisor for Premier Lodge. Her excuse for our booking reservation being incorrect was that the hotel staff must have cancelled one of our rooms. In my mind this was a totally inadequate reply. The hotel staff blamed the central reservation staff and the central reservation staff blamed the hotel staff. Not at all satisfactory for the poor customer stuck in the middle. All I can suggest is that if you make a reservation on-line with Premier Lodge that you telephone the hotel before arriving to ensure your room has actually been booked, OR use another hotel. I know what we shall be doing!!
 

...less