Premier Inn trials premium rooms aimed at the corporate market

09 September 2019

Premier Inn has started trialling premium rooms aimed at the corporate market, The Times has reported.

Premier Inn, owned by Whitbread, has given over an entire floor in two of its London hotels, in Islington and Holborn, to a new class of bedroom carrying the working title Premier Plus and costing an extra £15 to £20 a night on top of the price of a standard room.

The move follows the launch a year ago by Travelodge, of Super Rooms with “additional creature comforts” including a new decor, a Lavazza coffee machine, a choice of pillows, a more powerful shower and “a comfy armchair to relax in”. By the end of this year, it will have 1,800 SuperRooms across its 584 hotels.

The launch of the trial is part of a wider move by Premier Inn to tap into a broader clientele and improve returns by introducing greater segmentation. Six years ago it launched Hub by Premier Inn, a more compact and contemporary sub-brand with a focus on technology, then in March this year it opened its first Zip by Premier Inn selling rooms from £19 a night.

Alison Brittain, the Whitbread chief executive, told Dominic Walsh that the premium rooms had been introduced with the corporate market in mind, although since the launch in early summer they had proved popular with both corporate and leisure guests. She said that by giving over a whole floor to the concept, the rooms were much quieter than those on other floors. “There are definitely no stag parties or hen do’s,” she said, adding the idea of trialling an entire hotel comprising Premier Plus rooms had not been ruled out.

Premier Inn, which like Travelodge drew inspiration from the airline industry for its premium move, is planning to extend the trial to another five or six hotels before Christmas and it is understood to have earmarked up to 25 properties as part of the next phase.

The price premium of £15-20 equates to an increase of about 10 per cent on normal room price, which in the first two locations can range from £100 to £150 a night, depending on demand. Travelodge applies a premium of £10 to £20 a night on its Super Rooms.

Ms Brittain declined to reveal the cost of upgrading the rooms, claiming it was “commercially sensitive”, but said they had been more or less sold out since the launch and were yielding good returns. “It’s been phenomenally successful.”