Has finally got the internet and time to sit and look through reviews
Has finally got the internet and time to sit and look through reviews
Member since:28.07.2007
Reviews:23
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Thanks for reading my review, I have done a full review of the Premier Inn London Kensington below however if you are simply interested in the advantages and disadvantages of the hotel I've placed a little summary at the bottom of the page. Hope you find it useful and as usual feedback is welcome.
I'll start by saying this for the Premier Inn Kensington, either it does not cash in on big events such as West End Live, or it does not know about them. Either way this became the reason for our stay over West End Live weekend 2008. At £84 for a double room per night it isn't expensive considering its proximity to the tube and to the heart of London, even for a normal weekend. However, this particular weekend we booked the hotel after most others were full and the few that weren't were charging highly for rooms. So why give it three stars? Read on and all shall be explained.
BOOKING I booked our room at the Premier Travel Inn Kensington through Expedia, a wise move I felt as this was one of the few sites showing rooms available for the dates we wanted. I snatched them up within minutes of finding them and was pleased to find the booking system easy to use and the booking went through smoothly. We were even sent a confirmation email which we were able to print and take to the hotel.
ARRIVAL Like many other hotels this one asks you to arrive after 2 oclock in the afternoon, we didn't attempt to drop our bags off before this time, but instead chose to travel lightly and carry our belongings with us on our day of arrival. At around 3.00 we got the tube to Earls Court tube station where we disembarked the train to find more than one
exit. Naturally we chose the wrong exit and turned our "2 minute walk" into a 10 minute walk, while we wandered the surrounding area aimlessly trying to find the hotel. To which the directions were easy had we left the tube station in the right direction, however this wasn't made clear on the directions and we became quite lost. Realising our mistake, and with the help of a map I had printed off Google Maps before leaving we walked the streets around the tube station until we found an alternative exit that made sense according to our map. Within 30 minutes of leaving the tube we had found the hotel and were ready to book in.
BOOKING IN Having waited a few minutes in a short queue we were greeted by a friendly member of staff. "What name is it?" he asked us "Bloggs" said my Fiance, "Forename?", "Joe". "Sorry" was the reply" "I don't understand your name is it "Joebloggs" what is your surname?" after some confusion it was finally confirmed that our booking had gone through with my fiance's full name as his surname. "And where have you come from?", a strange question I felt, but my fiance answered "Sheffield". "It says here "Atlantic" replied the man behind the desk. I suggested that perhaps they had the wrong booking and the member of staff agreed searching for another booking in our name. After a few minutes he concluded that we'd perhaps typed it in wrong, which offended my fiance who often buys things online. After a few minutes my fiance realised that perhaps the reason for our strange booking was that we had booked through Expedia. The man behind the desk agreed that this was probably why and offered us keys "twin room" he said. By this point I was starting to get annoyed, my fiance had booked a romantic weekend in London for us and we had booked a double room. "We booked a double" I piped up, the man sighed, "would you prefer a double?" at this point I had to fight back the urge to say "yes, as I indicated when I booked the hotel in the first place" but instead I managed to smile and say "if possible" through gritted teeth. Then came "Would you like breakfast?", "yes" said my fiance. It's at this point I would like to point out that the Premier Inn advert slogan "Everything's premier but the price" is only true if you don't buy the "premier breakfast". If you do, then that will cost you another £7.50 each. Perhaps that doesn't seem too bad, but when you consider the menu that you get in your room kindly informing you that there are breakfast "options", something that you are not made aware of at the front desk. A breakfast to go, is a pastry and a hot drink will cost you around £2.50. A continental breakfast which has a good selection of pastries, bread, jam, fruits, yoghurt, cereal and juice will cost you around £5.00, and the full shabang, the continental, full english, 400 variations of eggs, comes at a whopping £7.50. Making our great value room seem a little less great value at £99.00.
THE ROOM Our room was comfortable, although I can't say it was anything to write home about. The bed was well made and as usual the place had a clean feel about it, although I got the feeling with some of the amenities that it was no expense spared, the kettle seemed old and rattly and we ran out of milk after one cup of tea and had to hunt down a cleaner and ask for some more. The bath sported 1 bottle of Lux attached to the wall for both washing your body and your hair, so ladies, bring your own shampoo and conditioner!!! Apart from that it was nice, I had a bath before we went to the theatre on the evening and left the hotel feeling relatively pleased with our room. I can definitely say this for premier travel inn's, you know wherever you go that it will be to a certain standard; pleasant, comfortable and most importantly clean. During the night the noise level was good, we didn't hear anything from any other rooms and we both slept soundly, the next morning the people next door woke us speaking loudly, however I feel that was the level of noise they were creating rather than the hotel that was at fault.
*Note: If you forgot any of your own things such as a toothbrush, toothpaste or other cleaning items you can buy a pack for girls or boys from the hotel for £7.50. Another premier price.
BREAKFAST Now to the superduper, wonderous, premier breakfast. We went down for breakfast at 9.00, and were greeted by a waiter who told us that we would have to wait for a seat as all of the tables were full. We sat with 4 other guests in the bar waiting, and I was annoyed that we weren't offered tea or coffee while we waited, rather ignored until around 10 minutes later when a table became available. All guests were sat together, so I got the feeling that whether you paid for a continental or a premier breakfast, once you sat down you could just get whatever you wanted, as the food was not seperate. My extra £2.50 bought me a rather small amount of extras, bacon, tomatoes, beans, sausages and a few fried eggs. Interestingly the upstairs menu had a huge list of extras available to "premier breakfast" purchasers, however in the breakfast area these were not available. The lady next to me had remembered that boiled eggs were on the list and requested one, which was brought to her. However it seemed in order to get what you wanted you had to memorise the menu in your room and I felt rather annoyed at the limited amount of cooked food that was available and the standard to which it was prepared.
THE AREA On exploring the area before going to the theatre I had become a little nervous of returning there at around 11 oclock at night. My main concern being the knife amnesty at the bottom of the road and the silent street up which you had to walk to get to the hotel. However I was proved wrong and returned to Earls Court to find a vibrant street still relatively busy late at night and while the short walk to the hotel (up 1 street of houses) was a little more frightening I didn't feel threatened by anything at any point. We went for a meal at Nando's near the hotel on Saturday night and found the place quiet and friendly, as well as very reasonably priced for London.
BOOKING OUT Guests must be booked out by 12 oclock and with such a busy day the day before we used this time to relax in the hotel. Naturally booking out was much simpler than booking in and we just handed over our keys and left very easily. This made leaving much quicker than we imagined and we were back on the tube by 12.15.
A QUICK SUMMARY
ADVANTAGES TO STAYING HERE: - You can't ignore the price, for a room it's cheap. - The proximity to the tube station (if you take the right exit) is brilliant and Earls Court falls into Zone 1 on the tube map making for cheaper tickets into the centre of London. - You know you will get a clean room with all the basic amenities. - The area has plenty of places to eat and drink meaning that you can always find food and a pub not too far from your room - The hotel also has its own resteraunt and bar, however after the price of breakfast we decided to give it a miss
DISADVANTAGES TO STAYING HERE: - If you book through a company such as expedia be ready for a long booking in time - The charges for everything but the room seem high - While breakfast is generally nice, the cooked breakfast leaves a lot to be desired - There aren't many amenities within your room and what there is seems overly budget
On a final note I'd like to say if you're thinking of booking a room at the Premier Inn in Kensington and would like t buy breakfast, food and drink consider what you would pay at other hotels before making your decision, as well as what amenities you would get in your room. You might find that the Premier Inn is the best and cheapest option, or you might just find that you would get a more impressive room at a different hotel for the same price once you have taken into consideration breakfast, meals and drinks.
Thanks for reading
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
With family-friendly rooms and a 24-hour business support service, the Premier Inn ... more
Kensington hotel is in the heart of London, a short walk from Earl's Court Tube Station.Premier Inn London Kensington (Earl's Court) is close to many cultural attraction...
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Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Aug 5th, 2008
exceptional by (6%):
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