Bristol (Alveston) hotel

Can’t really think of another way to put it. We have visited 50+ premier inns around the country and this is definitely the most unusual. We always find premier inn staff friendly and like knowing what we are getting when we arrive. This one just hit different and not really in a good way. The building itself is old fashioned and feels more like a motel than a hotel. It looks quite run down and very dated. There is no air conditioning which would be a major issue if the weather was hot. There was a fan in the room when we arrived but it was just circulating warm air. The view from our window was onto a grassy area which would have been pleasant except there were several random towels and dirty plates left outside on the grass. I can only assume some guests had been having a picnic outside on this area and hadn’t tided up. Perhaps not the hotels fault but it didn’t look great and remained for our stay. Would have mentioned this to reception but when we passed it was always empty. The reception wasn’t manned when we arrived around 6pm but a lady did arrive after a few minutes after we buzzed. The welcome felt really strange and a bit uncomfortable in all honesty. Almost as if she were pretending we were checking into a 5 star hotel (being called madam constantly and a bit over and almost came across as sarcastic). It just felt a bit odd to have that at a quiet run down premier inn. We were encouraged to book breakfast in advance due to the room only being small so we booked but then on arrival our “welcome” was really disappointing and the complete opposite to the receptionist the day before which was way worse. The young waiter seemed stressed that we were a table of 5 despite us booking and struggled to suggest where we could sit. He eventually reluctantly pointed us into the direction of a few tables with stools (which weren’t suitable due to disabilities so we had to swap the chairs ourselves). We weren’t given any explanation of how the buffet worked liked usually happens at a premier inn and it wasn’t made clear that some items (eg scrambled eggs) which are usually on the buffet needed to be ordered. Other Items were constantly running out and staff couldn’t keep up with replenishing. Bread wasn’t restocked, neither was apple or orange juice. There was limited fresh fruit and we saw people waiting for staples such as sausages and bacon. We asked staff a couple of times about the juice and pancakes but they seemed overwhelmed (it seemed to be the one young male waiter and one chef which wasn’t enough). We ate at the pub next door which was really nice for evening meal. Personally we much prefer Cribbs causeway overall but booked here as it was half the price. We would return if the price difference was significant but certainly wouldn’t pay the same price as the much more “normal” cribbs causeway hotel.

kelly was brilliant on reception. She gave us all the info we reqd and recommended places to eat and takeaways. A very warm welcome and breakfast for 8.00am. Looking forward to a full belly before our journey to Cornwall. A great stopover before hitting the M5.

When we got our key, we walked down the corridor to find a massive change in temperature as we got near our room, when we entered the room, it was absolutely freezing! When we spoke to reception, we were told that the hotel was fully booked and to turn the small heater on! Not the best night sleep! The whole place is overall very rundown and the room was very average

The staff are excellent. The building needs pulling down and starting again. Poor signage at the road side to say you have arrived.

Really nice room on arrival it did look old on the outside then got in and just wow was lovely clean and warm welcome thank you