Premier inn - financial trouble and rooms

[Teacherteachernotapreacher]

I’m talking myself round in circles here and hoping you can all help!

have 4 nights booked in a premier inn in London over Xmas period. Have had it booked for ages and will pay on arrival. Have two rooms booked as there are 5 of us - 2 adults and 3 chn aged 7, 10 and 11

have recently had some unexpected financial disasters which mean we are not doing well financially.

would cancel the trip but have things booked that I can’t get refunded and it’s also the chns and husbands surprise Christmas present (they don’t have much else except chocolate and socks)

Can’t contact the hotel directly as it just rings out using the premier inn number when I get transferred.

Would they notice/mind if we all squeezed into one room? And if we did, could we still get all three kids a breakfast for free? (And then they’d know anyway as they was what room you’re in)

it would save a fair bit making the trip less stressful for me. But then I’d stress about lying about the number of people in a room.

what would you all do?

free bt queues loonnnggg

Which area of London is the premier inn and what’s your itinerary? Those of us with local knowledge might be able to help with cheap but decent places to eat nearby.

I check in then the kids come in divided. Have rarely paid for two rooms but for three nights and driving back it might well be sensible.

You can get take out and have room picnics so take a pack up and all the drinks you need then eat a big breakfast and don’t buy food out and about. That saves a fortune

No need to bring lots of drinks and snacks from home, just go to a supermarket in London and get what you need for the day/s you are there. You can pick up dinner from Pret/Subway/Itsu or eat in if the room is really cramped. You will all probably be too tired in the evenings to want to go out anyway. At least the kids.

£45 per room is extremely good value, especially in London

I would keep the 2 rooms

Yes I would think you would save more than £45 on food just by eating a big breakfast and having packed lunches. Even a McDonalds for 5 would be about £20. Don't have lunch out, take refillable water bottles ith the mini super concentrated squash and flasks for tea/coffee that you can make in the room.

You can book timed admission tickets (free) for the science museum etc. and skip the queues.

I would keep the 2 rooms, you’ve got an excellent rate, take sandwiches and drinks for the journey and only stop at Services for WC. Eat at McDonalds or similar. My Son tried to book at his usual Preimer Inn, it’s normally around £100 per night, but they wanted £400 for last Friday, so he just came home.

Travel for under 11s is free. We also make sure we get our teenager the child rate on his Oyster card (can only be done in person at a manned tube station - but well worth it). I get the sense they don’t do it very often - a quizzical looks and finding someone else - but staff have been happy to help and get it sorted.

£45 per room is amazing value

Consider taking sandwich bags and grabbing a few extra croissants at brekkie and a couple of apples or whatnot. Do it carefully as you aren’t really supposed to, but if you each get a plate of cooked brekkie and a side plate of croissant and fruit, you should be able to pull it off

Meal deals are your friend here. Also get drinks and snacks from Tesco/sainsburys etc rather than an expensive stall/corner shop. And also use citymapper. Walking is sometimes quicker than you think! If you want to ice skate, Greenwich is far cheaper than the central ones.

Are you driving all the way? Will that mean paying £££ in ULEZ and parking?

What I do when I need to go to London is drive to somewhere like Slough or Reading and get the train from there. Works out loads cheaper

Is it an actual premier inn or a Hub by Premier Inn. If it’s a hub you will need the second room.

Op is there something you could sell to make the 150 quid? It sounds like you all could do with the treat. You will need to
plan carefully for food - I’m not sure prem inns ever have fridges but it’s worth asking them.

I have never seen a PI room at £45 per night in London / I stay in then every other month and it's more like £145 per night these days, sometimes a bit less but often more. You have an absolute bargain there for your rooms. I think even if you could cram into one room you probably can't cancel the other anyway as it is a complete booking (?) - I would definitely go with keeping costs down rather then trying to change this booking. The cost is unreal!

I would assume for £45 a night that op is quite far out, Wembley or Finsbury Park or something.

But if OP booked on flex rate, she absolutely can cancel one room not
the other

We stay in PI’s when we visit the adult kids who live in London. Last time we stayed at the Westfield and bought takeaway food from the shopping centre food court to eat in the hotel room in the evening.

We live very rurally so no takeaway food options at home to this is an actual treat for us. 😆

Don’t forget to take a few bits of cutlery (especially a sharp knife), wipes, kitchen roll and plates etc from home if you are making up any meals in your room, or even for takeaways

45 per room/night is incredibly cheap for london. it will be nearly impossible to find something cheaper.
wrt 5 in a room, when we stayed in london in the summer the rooms were really small. with a double bed & a small sofa bed without room for a person to lie on the floor anywhere.

That's good - I wasn't sure hence the (?)

You will absolutely save £45 if you take thermos flasks for tea/coffee, sandwiches and refillable water bottles.

Don’t cancel and lose the money you’ve spent on other things. The hotel rooms are a bargain. Fill up at breakfast loads of supermarkets for lunch stuff and you can absolutely get takeaways. Have a lovely time.

You will be miserable squashed in one room espec if using as base to eat takeaway food etc . Use two rooms. Put on credit card and enjoy a break. Use the local tesco. Look for uber eats and deliveroo deals sign up for £10 off etc.

The maximum room occupancy (4) is set by the people who have done their fire risk assessments not the hotel chain. This is the maximum number of people who can be safely evacuated in the event of a fire.

£90/room in London is dirt cheap. You won't get cheaper.

You could trim the number of nights depending on what else you have booked.

For the cost of the hotel.i would assume you are not ciry centre located, so get the mainline in and walk where you can.

Reusable water bottles for drinks, buy some bread and fillers for lunches, eat your fill at breakfast, find cheap alternatives for dinner I.e wetherspoons, find places who offer free children's meals,