Premier Inn Torquay Seafront

The hotel itself was nice; can’t fault it. Our room however, had a weird, stale smell and was off-putting, with no way to ventilate the room by opening the windows, as you cannot open them - A/C is not a natural ventilation. Bed was comfortable, slept perfectly fine, just not nice waking up with the smell, as mentioned before. Breakfast was good, although I’ve had better.

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.

Bed on arrival was not made properly and looked messy - although was comfortable. Decor was shabby in most corners and low down by floor - Room, bathroom and restaurant. Expected more from a Premier Plus room but ....... No cushions, no draws, minimal hanging space, vanity mirror in wrong place and shelf too small. Although a spacious room the furniture was quite minimal. Food was good but not for vegetarians unless you like spicy, cheesy!

I have held off writing this review until I could make my feelings/issues clear with the Premier Inn Guest Relations Team. However, although recorded, no further action will be taken, so here goes. We arrived and the staff on the desk made it clear they had been busy and wasn’t very welcoming. We had booked a family room (118) the room is huge, so this was great. Beds were made and was fresh linen, but that’s where this positives end for this room. The bathroom stank. I mean strong urine like a badly kept men’s toilet in a pub. The room clearly hadn’t been cleaned properly, not just that day, but in weeks!! Now we aren’t fussy, so I’m not saying we were moving furniture like they do on TV when reviewing rooms, this was clear on the skirting boards. And the plug when we went to plug in a charger, we couldn’t believe it. Then they can’t have pushed a vacuum around that day, otherwise they would have seen the tablets we had to pick up found on the floor in two different parts off the room. I don’t know if they were prescription *****, vitamins or recreational *****, but either way if the room had been cleaned, they surely would have been seen and picked up. Imagine if young children had picked these up?!? Please see photos. My wife went to reception and complained, we were told to wait while another room was prepared. We were then given room 4, not quite as big, but an adequate sized family room. This room had been cleaned, however as with the rest of the hotel, it was tired and well overdue a refurb. Once we got unpacked, we went out to explore our surroundings, and by chance we passed the lady who reallocated us, and she said as a way of apology, we were given free breakfast. We appreciated the offer, but would this have happened if we didn’t happen to pass each other? Who knows. The breakfast was an experience, we have stopped in a few Premier Inns so we know what to expect, but here, you have to book in. We wasn’t aware of this, and they made hard work of getting us a table, despite half the restaurant being empty. I was told they have 200 guest to seat, but if we are quick she could seat us. We did, we were quick, and the tables still remained empty, so why the big deal? Then later after we had eaten and gathered our things from the room, a short while later when we went out for the day the tables were still empty, so really no need to make such a big deal. On the Saturday the hot food was cold and poor. However the Sunday was much better and fresher, back to what we would expect. The rest of the hotel is well overdue an overhaul. Carpark is uneven, the paths to the car parks are a trip hazard where tree roots have lifted the block paving. The carpets are worn and look dirty. All the paintwork and walls are marked. It’s a Premier Inn, cheap and cheerful, we wasn’t expecting the Ritz, but we do expect cleanliness and freshness. The restaurant was clean and more up to date, so not sure why the rest of the Hotel hasn’t been brought up to date in

Excellent location with a view from many rooms. Walking distance to transport network and boat trips. Excellent room facilities, comfort and very clean. Very good value for money . Would prefer more twin room options. Breakfast choices and quality was good but more focus on healthier options (e.g quality fresh fruit and low/zero fat dairy) would enhance the experience.

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.