Durham City Centre (Walkergate) hotel

We have stayed at many a Premier Inn, which provides a high standard of accommodation at a reasonable price. It was therefore the choice for our first visit to Durham. it provided us with the usual high standard Premier Inn amenities together with exemplary customer service provided by Alison and Collen. The hotel is very accessible to Durham Cathedral and the town centre.

I was most disappointed in my 3 night stay in mid July. Despite Premier Inn's Guarantee of a Good Night's sleep, I did not get a good sleep at all during my stay. The weather was hot and humid but the SystemAir air conditioning in the room was not working and the room was hot and stuffy. This was reported to the receptionist the same afternoon after checking into the room. The member of staff did not seem concerned, acknowledge concerns or apologise. We were told that the SystemAir was only for central heating, this was incorrect. A friend in another room slept very well and her room was kept at an ambient temperature throughout her stay. We were offered sheets, told to use the (dusty) floor-standing fan and open the window. It was too noisy with the fan and the window open. We were not offered another room, but I realise the hotel may have been full. It was a Friday afternoon but I would expect that important equipment would be repaired within at least 24hours but this did not appear to be considered or expedited. We were not advised that we could lodge a complaint if we did not sleep well. This we only discovered when talking to friends who recommend Premier Inn and speak highly of them. When they stayed in London a few years ago, they also had a room with faulty air conditioning; they were given unlimited supplies of iced water, floor-standing fans and also given a refund. Another issue was that there were no two-pin sockets for electric toothbrushes or electric razors in the rooms. The receptionist said that these were removed when the rooms were upgraded. The website did not appear to mention this. The mattresses were comfortable but the room was too stuffy and hot to sleep well. The shower was good. There was limited space to hang clothes and just one drawer. There was no bedside table but there was just enough space on the bedside shelf for chargers to reach the USB port and sockets. A nice touch was having a little shelf under the mirror by the entrance where the hairdryer was kept. There was a reasonable choice of food for an evening meal and a wide selection of drinks, including tasty, hot chocolate. There was very limited comfortable seating to have a drink in the evening. Other seating and tables were where guests had breakfast, not very relaxing. However I cannot fault the other staff at breakfast, behind the bar and other receptionists. They were attentive, hard working, very helpful and courteous. . The breakfast time was very busy but the staff were always smiling and nothing seemed to phase them. There was an excellent choice for breakfast, especially perfect poached eggs. The timers on the two dualit toasters I do not think were working properly, they took a while but at least the toast did not burn!. Tea, coffee, milk and sugar sachets were available at any time for guests to help themselves. From my experience I would be cautious about booking a stay at Premier Inn in future.

The room was very spacious and comfortable . The staff were all friendly and efficient. The hotel was fairly central to the other amenities of the town.

Great location with friendly helpful staff. It was also worth spending a bit extra for a Premier Plus room - really makes a difference if you're staying a few days (e.g. extra space, mini fridge, faster Wi-iFi and a quiet location in the building).

A really perfect location, very Central for the Cathedral etc. Staff very welcoming and friendly. Steep walk from the Railway Station so beware and may be better to use a Taxi, we did on our return to the Station. Air conditioning was working fine, we were a bit concerned as the Premier Inn details did not show AC. Room was very clean and quiet, obviously been refurbished recently, only criticism was there are no Shaver sockets any longer in the bathrooms, glaring omission, so I had to buy an adaptor from Boots :-)