Premier Inn has topped the Which? travel annual UK hotel chains survey. The 2017 survey hails the chain’s “clean rooms and fantastically comfortable beds all at a reasonable cost, showing you don’t necessarily get higher standards for higher prices”.
The survey asked Which? members to rate the hotel chains according to attributes ranging from value for money and the comfort of the beds to toiletries. From a survey of 4,000 responses, Premier Inn topped the rankings with a customer score of 79%. Ibis Budget came second with 71%.
Guests rated Premier Inn highly in a number of categories, with the company’s bathrooms, bedrooms and beds all receiving the maximum five-star rating.
Britannia Hotels was named as the worst chain in the UK for a fifth year running. The chain did not score more than two stars in any single category and received an overall customer satisfaction rating of just 33%.
Alex Neill, Which? MD of Home Products and Services, said: “Our survey shows that after five years at the bottom of our survey, Britannia shows no signs of improving the poor experience it offers its guests.”
Britannia, which has 54 branches across the UK, according to Which? charges, on average, £2 more than Premier Inn, with guests reporting paying £78 per room.
Neill added: “Once again, Premier Inn shows the rest how to do it – clean rooms and fantastically comfortable beds all at a reasonable cost, showing you don’t necessarily get higher standards for higher prices.”
Other high scorers included Radisson Blu, Crowne Plaza and MacDonald shared third place, with a score of 70%.
Other hotels scoring poorly included: Days Inn Hotel, at 49% customer score; Old English Inn at 55%; and Travelodge at 58% – all in the bottom half of the table.
Which? also carried out a separate survey into small and medium hotel chains, finding that Malmaison came out on top and EasyHotels finished in last place.
