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As regular readers might know, Tom’s love for Premier Inn hotels knows no bounds – I genuinely believe he would happily exchange his family for a free stay. Despite spending scores of nights in hotels each year though (and hearing Tom bang on about them constantly), I’ve never actually stayed at a Premier Inn myself… but might soon be tempted.

My ‘problem’ with Premier Inn has always simply been that I’ve been able to find a better option for less money – by the time I factored in Points earned etc, or have been looking to redeem Points instead of spending cash. With no loyalty programme and no cashback opportunities, Premier Inn doesn’t offer much scope for ‘travel hacking’.

hub by Premier Inn

To be fair, Tom usually travels with his family (assuming he hasn’t swapped them for Premier Inn vouchers since I last saw him!) and Premier Inn offers family rooms as standard – which can be a massive saving compared to booking a suite or 2 rooms, which you might have to do at other hotels when travelling with a partner and kids.  I usually travel alone or with just one other person though, so can’t get too excited about the sofabed options, regardless of extensive they may be.

What I usually want from a (city) hotel is a good location, quiet room, comfy bed, decent shower and fast internet – for the best possible price. A nice view is definitely a preference, but certainly not a deal breaker. Space isn’t really something I value very highly at all on short stays when I’m going to be out most of the time.

All of which brings me to ‘hub by Premier Inn‘ –

“hub by Premier Inn is the new urban hotel where location matters and size doesn’t. Be seen in all the right places, stay at the heart of the action for less with cleverly crafted rooms and the latest tech to keep you connected.”

There is no doubt that the rooms are compact, but they look comfortable and practical  (if a little like being on a spaceship, perhaps) – containing a luxurious Hypnos bed, monsoon shower, 40″ Smart TV, pull-out desk, plenty of sockets, under-bed storage and control panel for the lights and temperature.

Slightly bigger rooms are also available:

The public areas look quite smart too:

Clearly, that could all just be marketing guff, but the hotels do look ok and the reviews I’ve read are broadly positive.

Location

For me, location is usually a huge factor when deciding where to stay and I’ll happily sacrifice space for a good location and price, if I’m given the choice.

hub by Premier Inn is just getting started, but the locations they have chosen so far look sensible to me:

London

• Covent Garden
• Tower Bridge
• Spitalfields, Brick Lane
• Goodge Street
• Westminster, St James’s Park
• King’s Cross
• Westminster Abbey

• Royal Mile
• Rose Street

Price

The all-important factor – hub hotels definitely appeal to me if the price is right, but obviously I’m not going to pay the same amount that I would for a standard sized hotel room of similar quality and location.

For busy nights, particularly Saturdays, I’m seeing rates of £100+ which is frankly too expensive in my opinion.

At less busy times of year though, you can find rates as low as £33.50 which is very, very interesting for prime central London locations.

As you might expect, booking quite far in advance seems to bring up more of the cheaper rates.

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