Overview

Room 204 has a wet room and, like almost all accessible rooms at Premier Inn it is a good size with plenty of room for a wheelchair user to move about freely. Width of main door: 86cm. The room is located on the ground floor of a separate block from where the reception is and the automatic door to that block is operated by placing you room key card on the sensor. The king size bed was made up of two single zip and lock beds and, at a height of 49cm it was okay for my wife to transfer from her wheelchair. The mattress was comfortable enough, and two firm pillows and two softer pillows were available to us. The window looked out to a hedgerow, which helped to block out the traffic noise from the M5, just over 200 metres beyond it. The outer double glazed window could be opened to a degree, which afforded us with fresh air but, when closed along with the secondary sliding window meant there was no noise from outside to be heard The blackout curtains were effective, plunging the room into darkness. The A/C comes from a standalone wall-mounted unit, effectively cooling the room to 19ºC. The fan was quiet with the only noise to be heard from it being the draining of the excess water. There were enough electrical sockets around the room but none at the sides of the bed; this wasn’t a particular problem for us but could be troublesome for a guest that needs to plug in a CPAP device or other essential device during the night. I’m sure though that the hotel would be able to provide an extension cable. The basic Wi-Fi was weak, with a few dropouts. Our mobile data (O²) was weak. As is common with most of the hotels in this chain, the accessible bathroom was a good size, with a sliding door that opened to a width of 82cm. The thermostatic shower was easy to control and the water pressure was very good; it remained at a constant temperature whilst showering. We often find that the shower area in PI wet rooms doesn’t have a shelf on which to place shampoo, body wash and so on. It can be very difficult for a disabled person, when seated, to reach necessary items when the floor is the only place to put them. This shower did have a soap dish, so half marks for that, but a bigger shelf is needed. The bathroom though was showing signs of wear and tear; the shower seat was well past its sell-by date and my wife found it to be very uncomfortable. I would describe the room as being in the old style with a couple of additions, such as the large screen TV with the HDMI input socket below. It was pleasing that the room still had the old style wardrobe unit, which we prefer to the ones in the updated rooms; it offers more storage capacity. The room also lacked the vanity mirror of the newer rooms, which is always set too high for a wheelchair user. One major problem in this room is the height of the coat hooks which, at 168cm from the floor are totally useless for a wheelchair user; see photograph. This problem could be easily rectified; they are fixed to a wooden panel, which could be lowered to the appropriate height. Take note management! The hotel only has a breakfast room, which we did not use. There is though a Toby Inn, which is not affiliated to the hotel, next door and within walking distance; we didn’t use that either.

Transport & Parking

This hotel does has free parking with four disabled bays, two near to our block and two outside reception. There is a further regular bay adjacent to each of those that could accommodate a wheelchair user, depending on whether you drive in or reverse in.

Access

There was barrier free access from the car park to reception, the breakfast room and to our room. It looked like all accessible rooms, like ours, were on the ground floor. There are only two floors; there was no lift in the block we stayed in.

Toilets

We didn’t use any public toilets so I cannot comment on them.

Staff

All staff we encountered were pleasant and helpful.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS: Currently, check-in is after 16:00 due to more thorough cleaning, but we checked about half an hour before that and our room was ready. Only some staff wore face coverings. During the current Covid-19 restrictions housekeeping staff do not enter your room unless you specifically request them to do so; anything you need you can just ask at reception. Notices about social distancing, cleanliness and face coverings were posted about the hotel. Face coverings for guests was recommended but not enforced. Hand sanitizer was available at key locations.

Photos