London St Pancras hotel

My wife and I stayed at the St Pancras Premier Inn on a Friday night as we were seeing a show at Dingwalls on the evening and then the MJ show at the Prince Edward theatre on Saturday afternoon before returning home. First off, I had no say in what we did on the weekend – including where we stayed – so I have to confess never having stayed at a Premier Inn before that I was a bit unsure as to what to expect. Walking from Euston station we walked past the first Premier Inn (Euston road?) and I had a horrible feeling we had made a mistake – so when we arrived at the St Pancras site with it’s posh and modern exterior I was quietly relieved. Check in was super easy (very pleasant lady saw us through the early check in process and we were in our room 603 within minutes) and the hotel was really clean and peaceful including our room – so all good so far! We walked to the venue on the evening, saw the concert and headed back – and we had our eyes opened on the way back to the hotel (quite a rowdy Friday evening out in the streets) so I was unsure as to whether this would be the case in the hotel – but we stopped in the bar, had a rather tasty after-11pm pizza (again served by a lovely bar staff member who couldn’t do enough for us) and got to bed around 12pm. I don’t sleep well generally so was amazed (ok, so it may have had something to do with the late night beer and pizza) to wake up at 8.30am – having had a very pleasant and completely uninterrupted sleep! Great shower – super hot and great pressure – then down to the as much as you can inhale breakfast – which again – I absolutely couldn’t fault at all! Great selection – all steaming hot and freshly made – and all very well organised and accessible to everyone. We checked out at 11 but left our bags in the storage area until after the show – another great idea that we were surprised was free – and left feeling like we had had a brilliant weekend without any issues whatsoever (well until we got to the station and Aviva had cancelled our train – but hey ho). Despite the "budget" or "bargain" style advertising that makes Premier Inn a household name, don't be fooled into thinking it's a low quality offering - as it absolutely isn't! I've stayed in high end boutique hotels that couldn't match the customer service, cleanliness and quality of food we encountered - it was a completely faultless experience from start to finish! Highly recommended.

Room was as you expect from Premier Inn. But elsewhere a great shortage of staff. One lady, who was full of smiles and under so much pressur, welcomed us. Later she was the only member of staff we saw at the bar, she then took us to the resturant. It took us three attempts to catch someones eye to order food and drink. It took another three attemps to ask where our food was. In all over two hours just for one course and a drink to be served. Poor service. Not the staff fault, there were not enough staff on duty. The restaurant area was cold, people were sat in their coats. Obviously Premier Inn management are on a cost cutting exercise!!

The room was great. The check in, restaurant and service was poor but it was not the fault of the staff. At check in time, 3pm, the staff were at a training session leaving a lovely girl alone to handle check ins, luggage pick up and storage. She handled it well, one task at a time, but it was not achievable with one staff member. I, as a client, had to use my card to give access to folk who needed to use the bathroom and assist her with retrieval of luggage for other clients. Poor planning by management. My husband and I chose to eat our evening meal in the restaurant. There was only one staff member to take orders and only one staff member on bar duties. My pasta meal arrived after 40 minutes, cold and undercooked. The kitchen staff were new and inexperienced. Very little taste and mass produced. At one point we had to ask for our drinks from the bar because they were so understaffed. Many people waited for extended periods of time for their meals. Obviously, there needs to be many more staff on each shift, not the fault of any staff, just staffing management. It’s a busy hotel close to the station and with the heavy volume of clients, there should be enough staff to service the customers.

Our room was clean and tidy and the bed comfy. However there was only 1 hand towel and 1 shower towel. Additionlly only 2 milks and no decaffinatted coffee. I had booked the room for 2 people. We arrived at 9pm after travelling from Gloucester straight after work and wanted to go to bed straight away, as we were very tired and we had to be at Eurostar check in for 5am the next day. We searched our room for another set of towels but no luck and I had water in the moening rather as no coffee, as we ere ion the 5th floor and too tired to go down to reception to sort it all out when it should have been right in the first place, hence the poor review.

With the obvious benefits of its location for St Pancras station, this hotel also offered excellent value for money, a spacious room and very good dinner and breakfast offerings too! They accommodated everything we requested (nothing too exceptional), I would just rather check in with a person than a terminal - even though staff were hovering if needed.