Glasgow Pacific Quay (SECC) hotel

1. Firstly, I was soaked to the skin when I checked in, and there was nowhere, no way, or nothing to dry my clothes on, because you’ve got ridden of radiators, and just have stupid air source heating. So I had to put wet clothes on in the morning, despite having aired them out all night in my room. And had to have the heating on high. 2. There was no bath. I don’t like showers, I like baths. I thought all Premier Inn’s had baths? 3. The Freeview TV was terrible. How does Premier Inn think it’s Premier when you have only Freeview and not Sky or BT or something with lots of different channels. It took ages to change channels and I couldn’t get the menu to come up at all. It might be a big screen TV but it was so unresponsive and rubbish. If you charge people for better TV in a premium room that is disgusting, should be available for everyone. 4. And of course as usual the WIFI was poor unless you pay. 5. No Hot Chocolate sachets. Honestly the Argyll Guest House and Hotel over in Kelvingrove is better (and the Sandyford), in their Budget Basic Single room, alright that place might not have a bath either, or hot chocolate sachets. But it has a largish TV and easy to flip through the channels, and the wifi is 50mbps for free. And a free breakfast. And a comfy bed. And a radiator to dry things on. And at least they have ginger biscuits…. The only reason I went here was for convenience at night after a trip on the Waverley. It’s good for that. You can just check in, it’s nearby. But I didn’t have any food this time. Just a disappointment RE baths, the TV and not having anywhere to dry my clothes.

Let’s leave aside the inadequate bedroom hanging and shelf space, what’s really disappointing is that Premier is trying to run this hotel with less than adequate staff levels. No-one was at reception to welcome guests when we arrived or most other times we passed. Instead there were impersonal machines which were good at throwing room cards on the floor but hopeless at picking them up. A email had offered a room upgrade for a price - ‘just ask at reception on arrival’- but how can you ask a machine? Similarly there was no-one at the restaurant entrance to greet and take money because staff were also expected to clear up. One could have had a free breakfast if dishonest. Oh, and the breakfast berries were a solid frozen mass impossible to break up and eat presumably because the kitchen was too undermanned to organise thawing. If Premier can’t be bothered to employ people to provide minimum service levels then it may find travellers can’t be bothered to stay. We used to be Premier regulars - not any more, thanks to a previous bad experience made worse by a customer service organisation whose function is clearly to drive customers away. The staffing situation at Pacific Quay suggests the company is intent on continuing its downwards trajectory.

Very handy for the Exhibition Centre. Easy to get there by bus or car. Clean room, very friendly staff. Have stayed here quite a few times and booked to stay again shortly for a concert at the Hydro.

Practical jokes and poor service ruined our stay, we had booked here as we do a lot, as we were attending an event at the ovo hydro. We had no issues with check in as we used a terminal, we walked the long corridor to our room (constantly expecting to see twins on trikes at some point!), we decided to have a cup of tea once we got into the room, my partner picked up the kettle only to find that some joker thought it would be funny to cover the kettle handle in black sharpie! the handle is also black so it wasn't noticeable, they also covered the rear of the teaspoons in sharpie too! I took evidence with me back to reception and spoke to the lovely lady at reception who was very apologetic and replaced our teaspoons with clean ones, we were even offered another kettle or a different room, i politely declined as I just wanted to make them aware that it had happened. However dinner service was a different story. We had booked for 6pm, giving us (what we thought would be) plenty time to eat before heading to the hydro as the event didn't start until 8. Service to begin with was ok, we ordered our drinks and food, after maybe a 20 minute wait we received our main course which was very good, then came the long waits, we watched customer after customer receiving their mains and desserts and paying our bills while we were being completely ignored! our plates were clearly at the edge of the table ready to removed. After much waiting my partner got the attention of a server and asked for the dessert menu (as we had paid for their meal deal), our order for dessert was taken after another 10 minutes of waiting, by this time we were watching the clock as it was now approaching 7.30pm! we decided after almost another 10 minutes to ditch the desserts and leave! We were not the only ones who left dissapointed either. Normally the quality of service in this hotel is excellent, the front of house staff are always great but the restaurant staff were a complete letdown, there was a queue for the buffet in the morning as there was hardly any hot food available. We are returning in a couple of weeks but won't be having dinner in the restaurant. Very dissapointed in the poor service from the restaurant staff..

Acceptable accommodation for events at the SEC & OVO Hydro. Chairs in restaurant stained & dirty, tables tacky with old varnish. Vending machines horrendously expensive. Public transport into city is not close at hand. Staff do their best with what they've got but this "budget" hotel needs a refresh. Premier Inn used to be quite affordable, but they're now quite expensive these days for what you get.