Elgin hotel

The staff are great but seem to be handicapped by Whitbread. The welcome was great. The restaurant issue was explained and is understandable. They seem to be short staffed, as housekeeping was still working at 8pm... The room was comfortable, but air con would be helpful. The thermostat read 24.5°C but it didn't feel as hot as that. The fan helped cool the room a bit. The hotel could be a lot better with investment/staffing improved by Whitbread. The current staff are great, there just aren't enough of them.

This hotel is on the east side of the A96. It’s a good location for a stop doing the NE250 and since hotel rates have shot up in Inverness due to the popularity of the NC500, this is a much more cost-effective option. Plenty parking spaces but the hotel does use one of those third-party ANPR systems, which I would have thought unnecessary here, and have had issue with their accuracy in other hotels with the risk of erroneous penalty notices. I stayed in one of the newer rooms in the hotel – it was extended a few years ago. conditioning but the (very quiet) fan kept the room comfortable. There are plenty of Typical Premier Inn room, with large comfortable bed, large television with plenty of channels. Good 5G reception, so no need to pay for WiFi. There was no air power points for charging devices, but crucially on only one side of the bed, which was a bit inconvenient. Spare pillows had protectors on and were in a reassuringly sealed bag. The room hadn’t been that well maintained, with one of the bedside lamps not working, grease stains on the curtains, dust build up on the skirting board and mould spots in the bathroom. A bit disapointed, particularly considering that the room wasn't that old. There is an issue with the seagulls at this hotel, as it isn’t that far from the coast. They make a dreadful racket, although this abated by the time I went to sleep and wasn’t an issue overnight. It also contributes to the litter in the car park (closed top bins would solve this) and bird poo on the car. Like most Premier Inns I’ve stayed at recently the restaurant (which was previously a Brewer’s Fayre) has closed down and is now open to residents only. I had planned to have dinner there as there are no other options nearby except fast-food take-aways (McDonalds, KFC and Burger King all within walking distance), but it was closed until further notice for evening meals, although was still serving breakfast. The receptionist advised it was because they couldn’t get chefs. It was really inconvenient and unfortunately seems to be a Premier Inn theme in the north of Scotland over the last year.

I had booked a meal deal as part of my booking, I received an email the day before check in to say that the Premier Inn Elgin was making some changes but the restaurant was still open only to be told at check in the restaurant was closed for evening meals but open for breakfast only, I was still charged for the meal deal until challenged it was then refunded. When I got to my room the air conditioning wasn’t working, again I was not advised at check in, they had put a fan in my room which was of no help, it was 27.5 C in the room at night, it was a terrible nights sleep. Went down for breakfast only to find that the food looked as though it had been lying out for some time, it was all dried out looking so I asked for 2 poached eggs only to be told the chef wasn’t there and they didn’t know when he would be back, I ate what I could and left the rest, this is one of the worst hotels I’ve ever stayed in and definitely won’t be back, if they had been honest and up front with all of the issues mentioned and maybe offered a discount it might have helped but I was charged the full amount for an abysmal service. I would never have expected this from a Premier Inn.

Booked an accessible room but it was situated along two long corridors and the furthest room from the entrance. This was not suitable for a person in a wheelchair as all the corridors were carpeted and there was also a slope on the way back along the corridor. Asked for our room to be serviced but that didn’t happen after the first night! The restaurant wasn’t open in the evenings so unable to get a meal and got no warning about that. The area outside the restaurant needs cleaning and the whole building is “tired”. Actually it should be shut down. The only positive is that the reception staff are very welcoming and pleasant.

We knew hotel did not have air con as have stayed before, but room temp never went below 28° One night it was 15° outside but 30° in our room. A lovely housekeeper found us another fan which kept temp berween 28 and 29. Warm water coming out of cold tap and mini fridge useless. Staff where lovely as always they did the best they could. We actually paid to stay at another hotel for a night which also didnt have air don but it was so much cooler as you could open windows wider than an inch and they had a tower fan. There were no evening meals after first 3 days of stay. I think Premier Inn shud have stepped up and provided decent fans in all of the rooms.