The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Sarah Marshal
A BBC journalist sent a furious tweet to Premier Inn, vowing that he would never use the hotel chain again after he returned to his room after a day out working to discover that it had not been cleaned.
Paul Lewis, who presents Money Box on BBC Radio 4, tweeted: ‘In @premierinn hotel but after a day’s work no clean towels, no cleaned room, no made bed. I complain but am told I must ask to have my room cleaned. No one told me!
‘I’ve stayed in hotels all over the world and never had to do that. I will never stay @premierinn again. Beware.’
His tweet sparked a lively debate in his feed.
Premier Inn does state on its website that guests must request room-cleaning at reception and hang a door hanger on their door before 12pm.
BBC journalist Paul Lewis sent a furious tweet to Premier Inn, vowing that he would never use the hotel chain again after he returned to his room after a day out working to discover that it had not been cleaned
Several Twitter (now ‘X’) users flagged the chain’s policy to Mr Lewis, with others noting that Premier Inn’s approach is far from unique.
Darren J Lev wrote: ‘To be fair, that is the procedure and it normally says in the folder alongside the menu. If you are staying multiple nights you need to ask for your room to be cleaned.’
Robin Cantrill-Fenwick, meanwhile, commented: ‘Paul, it’s very common now – I’ve clocked up 35-plus hotel nights this year, mainly in the UK, and the Ibis Hamburg Alster Centrum just this week was the first to service the room daily without asking.’
Others, though, lamented what they see as a decline in standards.
Paul Bayliss tweeted: ‘Customer service is getting worse and worse in every industry.’
Twitter (‘X’) users were quick to respond to Mr Lewis’s tweet, with some lamenting what they see as a decline in standards
Anne Leonard agreed, writing: ‘I’ve stayed in hotels in various countries and never ever had to ask for a room to be cleaned.
‘It is purely bad service.’
Premier Inn this year was declared the second-best hotel chain in the UK by Which?, with an overall customer satisfaction score of 75 per cent, as we reported.
It scored four stars for cleanliness and five for bed comfort and ‘description matches reality’.
