Or do Premiere Inn towels smell rank now?

Yes Cardiff is the worst! But Cardiff bay is much nicer!

IIRC, wasn't there a television exposé about how badly and unhygienically the rooms in Premier Inn hotels were cleaned a few years ago? The cleaners were given unrealistic targets for how many rooms they could clean and weren't paid for working more than their contracted hours so they, understandably, raced through the rooms and cut lots of corners. Some of it was truly grim.

I would bet this isn't a problem unique to the one hotel chain, though.

I stayed in the Premier Inn Penrith on Friday night, in a plus room. My colleague was in a standard room. No problems with the towels smelling strange.

I love.ptemier inn and we've literally stayed in around 50 over the last 3 years! and a splattering of travel.lodge!

I think premier inn are consistently excellent. Comfortable beds and clean linen. I think you've been just v unlucky!

Travel.lodge is always his and miss, but they are a good alternative to premier inn when we want to bring our dogs with us! Some are ok!

@ThenUm . I’m home from Gosport . Towels were neither exceptional or unexceptional. Didn’t smell fresh exactly but did smell clean in a function kind of way . Bed was lovely as always . Gosport Premier Inn was a bit basic but then I only paid 82 pounds for a Saturday night so not complaining .

We've done three diffeent location in last 6 months - all city centers all fine no smells no lack of cleaning.

It is usually premier inns or Ibis for us - Ibis staff even in budget hotels do tend to be more friendly and helpful.

I hope they aren't going down hill - we partly book with them because we know what we are getting.

Looks like OP works for Holiday Inn.

Been staying in premier inns fairly regularly since I was a child and I do think they've majorly gone downhill in the last couple of years. Stayed in a few different ones and they all felt grimy and dated. They're not the "nice" budget option any more imo.

We visit Manchester quite regularly to visit DHfriends and family,and stay in a Holiday Inn Express which is also fine and good value.

The Hub we've just stayed in was in Soho.

The PI in Luton (not the airport one) was really not great. The whole place smelt strongly of cannabis and there were a whole bunch of people just hanging around outside and in the stair wells.

The one we use near Manchester Airport always seems fine. Clean, staffed, maintained. I suspect most people are there just for one night before early airport dashes.

We tend to use PI as they normally pffer a fairly standardised quality and can be good value, for when you just want a base to sleep at. Though in more recent years we have noticed some don't seem quite as decent - such as the one at Luton.

I've found that standards are so variable whatever chain you use, travellodge being the worse in terms of variability (from really nice to terrible) that said I've never had serious issues with premiere inn though I have had to ask for more towels (they had only provided one large one small) and replacement towels due to being damp and smelly, I think that was due to not tumble drying long enough. I haven't bothered with breakfast in recent years as it's definitely gone down hill

I stayed in one for a few nights this weekend. No issue with towel smell, though they did only give us one and we had to go down and request another - had to ask twice in the end before we got it though.

We stayed in one of the Hubs this time - all fine, clean etc though run on very limited staff. Was good value, especially for centre of London, however and a great location for our sleep base.

I love an independent b and b. Premier inns do have their place as you know what your getting, or should know.

Have stayed in the PI opposite Old Trafford (taking nephew to a match) and it was fine but not the nicest one I’ve stayed in, that’s the one in Fort William.

ok it was about 18 months when I last stayed in one. The towels absolutely stank. I can remember the smell now. Like a smokey musty weird smell.

It's a bit tired and dated, agreed, but still better than most of the local alternatives . The one next to the Stadium is miles better. My friend and I usually book on flex as soon as the cup dates come out, then cancel if our team doesn't make it.

Stayed in the Westfield Stratford one in London a couple of weeks ago and it was fine. Only minor issue was a bit of glitter on the chair as it's used by people going to the ABBA thing nearby!

I stayed in one last night, can't say I noticed a smell but I decided to slum it and shower at home anyway so didn't use the towel. Everything was bog standard as usual with a good breakfast.
Got to say though the toilet paper dispenser is annoying, just put the rolls back in.

Not noticed an issue with towels.

I agree things are going downhill to an extent. We had a family room at Christmas and the put up bed had the most lumpy mattress ever. I initially thought my child was making a fuss until I tried it. Reception couldn't move us and the solution was a mattress topper which was better but still wasn't ideal.
Another time we arrived 10 mins before check in time. We had to wait til the exact time unless we had paid for early check in. This seemed really petty to me as what difference does 10 mins make and it would have been better to not have people standing round in reception.

The other issue we have had is breakfast. With kids the breakfast is the highlight. On the last few visits some items have been unavailable, there hasn't been a hot buffet and you had to order to a waiter (not a major issue) and on our most recent stay there was no hot option as they didn't have a chef and apparently they will refund this (will see if they do this). Not sure why they didn't tell us this when we checked in and looking at reviews it seems this is fairly frequent, so either they don't have a chef or the one they have is highly unreliable.

I think they have been making a lot of cuts which is why the service has gone downhill as less staff.

I've never liked the way their towels smell, but it's more the 'sharp' smell of industrial washing powder as opposed to anything else. Certainly not yeasty.

I know Whitbread are doing lots of restructuring including closing lots of the restaurants that are alongside the hotels and bringing all their catering 'in house' so the drop in standards might be connected to that?

I know exactly the smell you mean 🤢