Premier Travel Inn, Goldsmith Street, Nottingham

I have used the Premier Travel Inn, Holiday Inn and Travel Lodge (which I believe to all be the same company) on several occasions. As you may have noticed, I have done a review on their GMEX hotel in Manchester where we stayed again for a concert (actually it was for the same band, Opeth). Before staying at the GMEX, I had never had any problems with any of their hotels before; in fact it was always a real pleasure staying in their hotels. So we decided we would forget the GMEX experience, and book into one of their hotels again.

How easy is it to find?

M1 Jct 26 follow the A610 to City Centre. Once in the City Centre, take a left following signs to Nottingham Trent University (Talbot Street). Turn left at the traffic lights onto Clarendon Street. Continue to next set of traffic lights, turn right, the hotel is on the right.

Park on level three and exit onto chaucer St. Premier Travel Inn is 2 minute walk.

As I said in my previous review "I have also in previous Travel Lodges/Inns, stayed in a family room, where there was a double bed as well as a sofa that turned into another 2 single beds, or in one case the sofa turned into a double bed. But this time it was just a double room we stayed in." They have a few different kinds of rooms: Single, double, twin, family and disabled. They offer cots for babies too, so it is suitable for families. They also have a choice of smoking or non smoking rooms.

The Reception

We sat in the bar for 40 minutes before deciding that enough was enough. We were going to be late for meeting with a friend at 5pm if it wasn't sorted soon, and we were already looking at missing our dinner. When we got to the reception, it was full of people. People with suitcases just off of flights, and people like us who were still waiting for them to sort their rooms out. The people off the flights were told to wait in the bar because their rooms weren't ready either, and we started fearing the worst!

Once more the walkie talkie came out asking if there was a room ready for us. The original room we were supposed to have, wasn't the same one we ended up in. They had just finished one and so we were told which room it was. She then procrastinated telling us things which we either already knew or didn't need to know, asking if we were wanting breakfast which we said we didn't, and then being told that if we changed our minds what time breakfast started and ended at. We then got the card for our room and corridor (this is instead of a key, which seemed to be a lot better because it just fits into your wallet or purse like a credit card). Fortunately for her, we are very polite and were in a rush otherwise she would have got an ear full!

Décor

There was also a menu, which we didn't look at, for the restaurant, a notice about ordering a pizza in the hotel and what pizza they did (but it didn't have a time when it started from or finished) and the internet access card. And there was a feedback form for you to fill in if you wanted to.

The window in the room was very narrow, about the size of a door frame, and to the right of the far wall. When we first went into the room, it was already dark outside, so we had to put the lights on as soon as we walked in. When we got back we hadn't fully shut the curtains and there was a street light blaring in, but once the curtains were closed it was fine. It wasn't until we were leaving that we opened the curtains again (well it was ground floor, and you don't want people looking in do you?) and realized how dark it was in the room! It was grey outside, but it was almost like night at the other side of the room from the window. Very little natural light was coming in, so you would have had to have the light on in there even during the day.

Another thing that had me up in arms was the fact they supplied sanitary bags for ladies to dispose of sanitary towels and tampons (so you don't flush them, which you shouldn't be!!!), but they only supplied 2. Now I had to use these bags, which were very nifty in the way it sealed up, but 2 is just not enough! When you arrive I'm sure most ladies would want to change these things, especially if they've been traveling a long way, so that takes up 1. Then you want to change it before you go to bed, so that's both taken up already. Then you want to change again in the morning, and if there's any time you need or want to in between these times… well, you'll just have to reuse the bag, which I had to do. There was enough room to put a few into the bag, but it seemed a little unhygienic to me.

As I have said, there was a bar in the hotel, but there was also a restaurant. We didn't use either, apart from waiting in the bar for our room, so I am unsure what they have on offer or how much it costs.

So what did I think of the Premier Travel Inn, Goldsmith Street, Nottingham? Well the room itself was ok, other than being very dark, and looking very bare. The shower was static, so it might have been difficult for washing hard to reach parts, but we never used the bath/shower to find out. I was annoyed about the sanitary bags, and they should have at least supplied 3 or more. The bed was a little hard, but it was only for a night.

The bar and restaurant from what we saw, were quite nice looking, but we were only using it as a waiting room, and the toilets there were nice and clean too.

This morning (5th December) we got a reply to the email: