Penrith

Absolutely lovely hotel! Great location, the hotel was warm, clean and the bed was soooo comfortable too! The staff were very friendly and welcoming and nothing was too much of an ask. We would definitely recommend staying there. We were impressed with the late shift manager who was on his own unexpectedly and balanced everything from checking in to cooking the meals. Very impressive!

The room was fine, with a superbly comfortable bed and a clean modern bathroom, with a bathtub as well as a shower. The availability of free parking in the adjacent supermarket car park was an added bonus. I decided to go to the nearby Wetherspoons for dinner, because the menu at the Premier Inn was rather limited. Breakfast was the only downside. The room temperature in the restaurant was decidedly chilly and I asked to move from the table next to the entrance, which was too close to an aircon outlet. I noticed that other guests moved from that table subsequently. There was an attractive range of hot and cold dishes but unfortunately, virtually everything from the hot buffet was lukewarm, aggravated by the absence of hot plates (the plate warmer did not appear to be working).

Bottom line: Use as a last resort. I reported caked mold on the shower head, no AC, a flood from behind the toilet and no bathroom fan first thing after my first night. This was a Tuesday. Housekeeping cleaned the shower head and the AC was fixed. No bathroom fan and flood still. I was told that night that they tried to reach me during that day about changing rooms but I never received a call or email. The flood got worse and each day I reported it. On Thursday I was told there were no other rooms available and the handyman only worked Tuesday and Fridays (but I did tell them about this on Tuesday!), but on my last day when I checked out I was told they had set aside a room for me - again no one told me - go figure. I was told to call guest services on checkout for refund but by the time I got back from my trip I had missed the 7 day window for complaints. It is frustrating because the bedroom itself was ok and I slept well, but the unhygienic bathroom and lack of comms merit 2 stars IMO.