Premier Inn Torquay Seafront

AN EXTREMELY BAD EXPERIENCE, CUSTOMER SERVICE HORRIBLE On arrival I could not check-in because reception staff told me I had not pre paid. I showed proof of my Trip.com booking payment and my bank statement but staff wanted me to send copies to senior hotel staff directly to prove payment. I objected, an argument ensued, waiting customers witnessed were embarrassed. I paid cash and waited the entire day before staff agreed payment had been made and I was refunded BUT NO APOLOGIES. NO BREAKFAST. Premier Inn had been having website issues admitted by reservation staff. I booked 2 days but only 1 day could I book breakfast. The site would not permit reserving breakfast. Hotel staff offered that I pay extra for breakfast but my second night room booking was already more expensive than the first night which included breakfast. By this time I was so pissed off that we checked out without breakfast. THE WIFI DID NOT WORK. Neither mine or my wife phone could receive Wifi. I emailed the internet provider for the hotel and eventually received service. Reception staff tried for more than an hour and could not fix the problem. THE HOTEL IS OLD AND DECOR DOWDY. The entire decor of the hotel is old looking and desperately needs a remodel and modern colour scheme upgrade. Carpets, artificial wood floors and window coverings have the appearance of being very old.

First impressions were not great; it took 30 mins to check in and at one point the line of guests stretched out the front door of reception! For some reason there are no self check in screens available which seems bizarre; if ever a hotel needs them, it is this one..... After finally checking in we made the long walk to our Premier Plus room (sea view) which is in the annex of the hotel. I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the room; it was much larger than any other Premier Inn room I have stayed in and it benefitted from dual aspect windows which actually opened (albeit limited by the safety catches). It was great to actually be able to open the windows which is often not the case in Premier Inns. It was also helpful given the limited effectiveness of the air con. The air con in many Premier Inns is often limited in its effectiveness due both to the minimum temperature setting (19C) and fan speed, but it was even worse here due to the relatively large size of the room. Thankfully, it was not a particularly warm night outside and with the windows open I had a comfortable night's sleep. Another benefit of the room was the walk-in shower in the room. This was excellent and looked very new, working perfectly. This Premier Inn is the first I have stayed in with a Beefeater restaurant. It was ok and the food was reasonable, but it was very busy and the room felt a bit cramped. The staff worked very hard and were rushed off their feet. Arguably, management need to look at recruiting more staff to support colleagues. Being a Beefeater, the bar area was more substantial and had a wider range of drinks available compared to many Premier Inns, but overall I would suggest the Thyme restaurants found in many Premier Inns are preferable to Beefeater. Overall the hotel was fine, but it needs updating and smartening up in certain areas, particuarly to the exterior of both the main building and the annex.

Premier plus room quite big. Hotel corridors and our room smelt of damp and stale cigarettes. Curtain.rail fell down. Hanging led light dangerous. Toilet seat broke. Tried to fix but pooh on fixings. Pooh on skirting boards in bathroom. Light shade in bathroom dusty. Could open windows and it was 22degress outside. Air con wouldn't go below 19. Had the most awful trip. No sleep for 2 nights. Bed comfortable but too hot. 3rd year stopped here and will be the last I'm afraid. Had it's day. Not worth the money anymore