What's going on with Premier Inn prices?

[Pawnless Endgame]

Disclaimers, to make this thread fair:
- I always use the same Premier Inn branch, called Nottingham Arena
- I always book via their web site (links below)
- All prices here are exclusive of breakfast or any other extras

I stayed there every October for the Nottingham Goose Fair and it was always £40-£50 per night for 1 person, although it's always a double or twin room. This was up until 2019.

The pandemic hit so everything was closed in 2020.

In 2021, Nottingham Goose Fair didn't go ahead but Hull Fair did, so I booked a nearby independent hotel there and again it was only £43 per night for 1 person. In 2022, I went back to Hull, same hotel, now £55 a night. That's a slight hike but I could live with that due to energy rates going up and the entertainment industry clawing back money that was lost during the pandemic.

Now I want to go back to Nottingham Arena (Premier Inn), this time on 28th-30th April and 6th-8th October.

For the October dates, they want £136-£159 per night

Nottingham Arena (London Road) Hotels | Premier Inn

Our Premier Inn Nottingham Arena (London Road) hotel is close to some of Nottingham?s top attractions, from the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham to the City of Caves and more.

www.premierinn.com

For the April dates, they want £151-£174 per night!

Nottingham Arena (London Road) Hotels | Premier Inn

Our Premier Inn Nottingham Arena (London Road) hotel is close to some of Nottingham?s top attractions, from the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham to the City of Caves and more.

www.premierinn.com

Note that the October dates don't overlap with October half term and Easter Day this year is 9th April, so my dates don't clash with school holidays or peak times.

What the hell is going on? £20 extra is fine to cover hardships etcs, but I can't justify paying 3-4 times of what I used to pay.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Cheers fellas.

Don't forget energy costs are almost 10x what they were for business now compared to 2019 too.

My energy rate is 2.5 times of my fixed, but I didn't know that companies are in a separate bag and having to pay 10 times of that now.

Brexit. Tories. Energy costs. Other stuff probably too. Everything is expensive and terrible now mate, get used to it.

I'm not talking about strike action (Tories) and Brexit has little impact as people still want jobs and there are a few million unemployed here. So energy is the only bit in your post that is relevant, mate.

Currently looking for a cleaner.

Not a cleaner, but I'm having a nightmare finding local tradesmen, even gardeners! Some calls / emails go unanswered. Some do answer, fix a date then don't turn up.

To add to the above: COVID removed some competitors thus driving up prices, whether through going bust or re-purposed such as housing the homeless.

I can still see plenty of nearby hotels about but there's little variation in the prices.

Have you looked at dates either side of the event? Assuming still outside of school term and any bank holidays etc.

The October dates are flexible, so if I picked week days adjacent, it drops to £111 but that is still over double of my old rate which was a weekend rate and for the same event. The April date isn't flexible though as I'm seeing PVD (club DJ) on a set night. The venue that I'm going to is only 1300 capacity at the local university, so it's not like it's an O2 / Academy setting.

On topic I ageee Premier is now really pricey for what you get!

£150-£175 a night for a Premier inn room is mental.

Since my OP earlier today, my sister told me that she got away with paying £70/night in a London Premier Inn in mid-July to see Pulp (90s indie band) in an open air gig. I asked her how she managed this and she said that she just went via the PI web site as normal like I did.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

I didn't think of refugees but not sure how relevant it is really. Before 2017, I was using a hotel called the Stage which was on the same road as the Nottingham Goose Fair. Then in 2017, it decided to turn itself into an asylum centre, so 2017 onwards I used the Premier Inn and it was a similar price, £40-£50 a night not including breakfast.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Nottingham Arena, I think there may be a clue there if its some digs in the 'burbs or a park off the M4 its unlikely to be as much in demand I imagine.

The Nottingham Arena Premier Inn is actually by the train station, but even the other PI on Goldsmith Street (near the uni) is asking for similar prices. No idea where the actual Notts Arena is though because I have never actively looked for it.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Surely I wasn't the only one to look up Nottingham Goose fair?
I thought Pawnless had go t a farm or something.

It started out as a market for geese but is now a major yearly fairground with a market section along the top section of the fair (but no longer sell geese!)

Hull Fair is the UK's other major fairground, and Goose/Hull sometimes overlap with each other.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

I just had to look it up too, thought it was something farm related to actual geese.
Nope, just looks like a ***** fair.

It can't be that " ***** " when it attracts 420,000 per year (quoting 2019 attendance)

I understand why you wrote your post though, because I come from Stafford and we're rednecks over here!

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

It attracts nearly 1/2 million people for the weekend, and you're wondering why prices reflect demand

I'm not sure if you read my OP? It's the same hotel branch, for the same time of the year, for the same event.

Edit: I know things have gone up 10%, 20%, but I'm not buying into 3-4 times of what it used to be. Remember we as customers have had cost increases too, and I don't think that a couple of 2-night city breaks away on home soil per year is asking too much for the lowly admin that I am. It's not like I'm asking to go to Disney in Florida or Las Vegas for 3 weeks.