Overview

Room 108 has a wet room and, like almost all accessible rooms at Premier Inn it is a good size with plenty of room for a wheelchair to move about freely. Width of main door: 86cm. The king size bed was made up of two single zip and lock beds and, at a height of 47cm it was fairly easy for my wife to transfer from her wheelchair. The mattress was comfortable enough, although my wife did find it a little on the firm side. Two firm pillows and two softer pillows were available to us. The window looked out to a roof section, which was of no consequence; at least it was quiet. The blackout curtains were effective and the A/C very efficient and not at all noisy. All made for a good night’s sleep. There were plenty of electrical sockets in the room but, as we frequently find with PI rooms, only one side of the bed has a socket. There is a socket beneath the TV with HDMI and other inputs. The basic Wi-Fi was good enough for us, with no dropouts. As is common with most of the hotels in this chain, the accessible bathroom was a good size, with a sliding door that opened to a width of 80cm. The thermostatic shower was easy to control and the water pressure was very good; it remained at a constant temperature whilst showering. The shower area, like so many in PI wet rooms, was missing a shelf on which to place shampoo, body wash and so on. It can be very difficult for a disabled person, when seated, to reach necessary items when the floor is the only place to put them. The only other niggle we had with this room is that the vanity mirror was set too high for a wheelchair user, the bevel being at eye level and obscuring my wife’s view; that is a common problem in all updated PI accessible rooms we have stayed in. The hotel has a Brewer’s Fayre restaurant, which we do not like, so we didn’t eat at the hotel; there were plenty of dining opportunities nearby.

Transport & Parking

This hotel does not have parking and they offer a reduced rate at a nearby car park. There is a loading bay about thirty metres from the hotel entrance which a disabled guest can be dropped off at. Although this hotel does not have parking, there are on-street disabled bays nearby; however, they all have three hour limits. There are though regular on-street parking bays nearby, on which blue badge holders can park without limit; the nearest are about 60 metres away on Lower Maudlin Street, just outside the eye hospital.

Access

There was barrier free access from the street to reception, the restaurant and to our room. There are three lifts near to reception.

Toilets

We didn’t use any public toilets so I cannot comment on them.

Staff

All staff we encountered were pleasant and helpful.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Currently, check-in is after 16:00 due to more thorough cleaning, but we checked about fifteen minutes before that and our room was ready. Only some staff wore face coverings. During the current Covid-19 restrictions housekeeping staff do not enter your room unless you specifically request them to do so; anything you need you can just ask at reception. Notices about social distancing, cleanliness and face coverings were posted about the hotel. Face coverings for guests was recommended but not enforced. Hand sanitizer was available at key locations. There were no notices on the lifts advising of single party/family use.

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