Inverness West hotel

Disappointed with our stay. On arrival we were given our room key to a room that had not been cleaned, bed looked like it had been slept in, dirty toilet and carpet had not been hoovered. There were no other rooms available so we waited for the manager to clean it. The tea and coffee had not been replenished but we were too tired to go back to reception. Breakfast was ok except it was very hard to get a table that had not been cleared of the previous guests dishes but there was only 1 young lad there as far as we could see who was rushing about and doing the best he could. It seemed to be all young and inexperienced staff.

I usually enjoy visiting Premier Inns but sadly I can’t recommend this one. The chief issue appears to be lack of staff. We had about a 15 minute wait at reception upon our arrival, as no one appeared to be staffing the desk. It turned out that the receptionist was also covering the bar. Our room was satisfactory but visits to the restaurant were difficult, again because there weren’t enough staff on duty to keep things moving. On the latter of our two nights my meal was more than adequate but my wife’s pasta was almost cold. However, she was offered a refund. Such staff as were on duty were lovely but management really needs to raise its game when there is so much competition.

Parking! - if you do stay (not sure why you would stay here after you read this review!!!) make sure you register your car at the reception! We unfortunately did not realise that we had to do this as we believed the parking was FREE to residents at the hotel as advertised when we booked (we paid about £672 for the accommodation and free parking which wasn't cheap - we stayed for 4 days and then accrued an additional £380 worth of parking charges from Horizon Parking who manage their parking area - WTF!) The receptionist came across as an idiot, who failed to highlight the importance of us registering our car on some terminal but instead advised us that we were okay to park in the disabled bay for the duration of our stay (my wife was clearly disabled and we displayed blue badge) - he proceeded to book us into the furthest room from the entrance reception desk which my wife (with walking stick and obvious walking difficulties) could not get to as it was so far away! The room also had building works in the carpark directly outside the window of the room which we were assured would not affect us.) I returned to reception desk and a different staff member found us a room nearer the reception after I complained the room was obviously not suitable - it wasn't a great start. Overall Premier Inn Inverness West hotel is run down, poor service, very few staff, long waits at bar/restaurant, staff forgot to serve drink we paid for - had to ask again for it, breakfast substandard (poor quality food and people waiting for most cooked food items to be brought out, food luke-warm and not great, hardly any staff about to direct anyone, customers looked pretty despondent at breakfast (no one having a great start to their day). We were away most of the time visiting family and attending a wedding and oblivious as to what would follow after we left. We were happy to get out of there at the end of our trip and head back to England. A couple of week later the letters from Horizon parking started coming £95 parking demands - one for each night we stayed. Obviously something had gone awry as why would we want to pay £95 a day parking on top of an already overpriced stay at their hotel with FREE parking! My wife contacted Premier Inn hotel and they said they couldn't do anything about it as it was a different company who managed their own carpark. We contacted Horizon Parking and were advised to appeal it - we sent them our Premier Inn booking information as evidence that we were indeed residents at the hotel on the dates they were trying to gouge us for more money - after some back and forth (and much annoyance!) they did NOT uphold our appeal stating that we should have read all of the signage in the carpark (which I thought didn't apply to us as we were paying residents of the hotel which advertised FREE parking so I didn't read fully or I would have registered my car!!! - obviously!) - they then stated as a good will gesture they will reduce the parking fee to £15 per night instead. We made a formal complaint to Premier Inn customer services who reported all this to the Hotel manager but was unable to resolve our additional parking charges - having wasted enough of my time and anger at being money gouged by Premier Inn and their associates Horizon Parking for an already overpriced and substandard stay at their hotel we paid £45 for the 3 nights they initially charged us just to be done with it all - they are now chasing us for a 4th night which they didn't originally send us a demand for, at £95 - no doubt due to us giving them evidence of our 4 nights stay at the hotel - you couldn't write it!. We have submitted an appeal for this one as well as obviously this is part of the same issue/stay. We will try and settle this one too and then pray to the hotel gods that this will be the end of it. Talk about ruining our trip! We will NEVER stay at another Pemier Inn hotel again - enjoy taking our money - you will never get another cent out of me. Avoid at all cost!

The only positive thing I can say about our recent stay is that the few staff that were on duty were absolutely excellent. Sadly there wasn't enough of them though. Why they remain loyal to their employer beggars belief. Despite a large restaurant area, they were turning away diners as the single chef on duty simply couldn't cope - not his or her fault but the restaurant wasn't available to most residents. Next morning at breakfast was equally chaotic. Two staff members trying to do everything from seating guests, clearing tables and keeping the buffet topped up simply didn't work. Also, cold plates for a hot breakfast isn't particularly nice. The corridors were in need of vacuuming and the outdoor areas were in need of tidying and weeding. Hopefully management will address these issues sooner that later as our stay was disappointing to say the least.

well after a long drive and work day get to premier inn about 6pm to find there is no food as fully booked and my company paid for meal deal so was very annoying