First of all: We used to lead a long distance relationship between Germany and the UK for almost 2 years, so we have stayed in probably more Premier Inns than most people have. We never experienced any problems at all, and chose this Travel Inn specifically for a shopping trip to Dover, mainly because of the very comfortable beds and a fantastic online rate we managed to get.
Oh well. I don't know what happened to the formerly unique beds ... this one was smaller than we remembered them (queen size at best), and whilst we were always bragging about the wonderful mattresses, this one was terrible. So bouncy that you stood vertically in bed once your spouse did the slightest move. No good sleep possible.
We also had to swap rooms because the towel rail wasn't working in the 1st room. We reported that to reception immediately, but the lady said she couldn't do anything about it now, and that the janitor would check it out next morning.
Well we slept in a little bit next morning after a long trip and didn't get out of the room until shortly after 12, only to find a note under the door "the do not disturb sign was outside, so we didn't want to disturb you and therefore haven't serviced the room. If you need towels, check with reception" ....... erm ......HUH?! You don't get your room serviced anymore after 12? We immediately went to reception to complain - only to find it unmanned, nobody there to take our complaint. Again we were greeted by a sign to leave a note. Which we did, asking for towels, a working towel rail, and teabags. When we came back 4 hours later ..... nothing had been done, we still didn't have any towels, the towel rail wasn't working, and the reception person only had the solution for us to change rooms. Which we did. Very much not what we wanted to do!
The noise that some people mentioned from the road didn't bother us at all, the insulation is very good in this hotel. Everything was very clean & tidy, yet this was the least satisfying stay we ever had in a Premier Inn.
The one thing that helped making the stay an overall nice experience though was the fantastic Beefeater pub "The Plough", mainly because of the outstanding waiter Kal who did absolutely everything to make sure we enjoyed our stays there from beginning to end. This restaurant can consider itself very lucky to have him, although all the other staff is very good as well. The food was great, a bit pricey I thought, but then the crisis reached Britain (see service in the hotel). Highly recommended!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
1 January 2012
Dear PillowyStar, Thank you so much for your feedback and balanced review. I am extremely pleased to hear that you had such a positive experience in the Beefeater Grill restaurant, and will pass your compliments on to the entire team including your waiter, Kal who will be most delighted. I am very surprised and disappointed to read your comments regarding the hotel service, and only wish I’d had the opportunity to meet with you and address them at the time you were staying. Please be assured that all of our beds are King Size, and although none of our mattresses are more than 12 months old I will certainly investigate the comfort of the mattress in the room you stayed in so as to ensure that future guests are not impacted. We always endeavour to give all of our guests a great night’s sleep and I’m sincerely sorry that we clearly failed to do that on this occasion. I can understand that it must have been most frustrating for you that we were unable to repair the towel rail during your stay – a lapse in communication has occurred as we would never intentionally let a room where any part of its amenities were not fully functional, and unfortunately our maintenance team member was on duty on the same morning that you had asked not to be disturbed. I am very sorry that there was no-one available on the reception desk when you came to enquire about the room servicing, we do however operate a buzzer system whereby you can summon a team member by pushing the button on the wall. We would have responded immediately and taken care of your needs. I can fully appreciate that through a number of unconnected lapses in our high standard of customer service you were left feeling disappointed with your stay. We strive every day to provide the very best in comfort, cleanliness and customer service and I can see that on this occasion we have let you down. I have contacted you via a direct message on this website in order that we can reach a resolution as swiftly as possible.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
