Premier Inn Derby City Centre (Cathedral Quarter) hotel — Hotel in Great Britain

2024 During the first visit in 2024, service in the Thyme restaurant was disorganised and understaffed. Only one waiter covered the dining area while the manager and one person worked behind the bar, resulting in long queues.

After finishing my meal, I asked to pay at the table but was told I must queue at the bar. When I briefly opened the kitchen door to speak with the waiter, the manager raised her voice and ordered me to close it for “health and safety reasons.” I complied immediately. However, her tone was unnecessarily harsh and authoritarian. When I expressed that no one typically handled payments this way and described the situation as crazy, she became defensive and ended the conversation abruptly.

I now understand that simply using the word crazy was later cited as a breach of the hotel’s Zero Tolerance policy, which is an abuse of that policy. “Zero Tolerance” is designed to protect staff from harassment or violence — not to punish polite customers for casual words said in frustration.

2025 When I returned for the following year’s event, the issue was no longer staffing, but the same manager’s personal conduct. It became clear that details from the previous year’s disagreement had been gossiped about among staff and even with a few attendees of the Tomb Raider convention. This was evident from comments I received from other fans repeating private details about me.

Before I even entered the restaurant, I sensed I had been labelled as a problem guest. The manager’s demeanour was cold and dismissive, and she again invoked the police, threatening to have me removed — even though I was calm and behaving appropriately. She accused me of “pointing fingers” simply because I gestured toward reception while explaining my booking.

One of the event attendees told me afterward that “your presence, your height, and your gender are threatening” — an attitude that reflects discriminatory bias and should never be tolerated in a public establishment.

The police cannot be used to enforce a personal ban or to intimidate a peaceful customer. Using the possibility of police involvement in such circumstances is itself an abusive and disproportionate act by management.

Inconsistencies Between Premier Inn and Whitbread After the 2024 incident, Premier Inn Guest Relations apologised for the manager’s behaviour, acknowledged that the situation was mishandled, and stated that the staff would receive further training to ensure respectful interactions.

However, a later response from Whitbread’s Executive Team contradicted this entirely. That letter accused me of “antagonistic behaviour,” extended a ban, and justified the manager’s actions under the Zero Tolerance policy.

This inconsistency between Premier Inn and Whitbread’s responses raises serious questions about: • Procedural fairness • Data accuracy and coordination • Lawfulness of data sharing and internal communication under UK GDPR Articles 5(1)(a) and 16

It also demonstrates how the company has relied on inaccurate or biased information, including hearsay from other event attendees — a breach of privacy and...

I recently stayed at this Premier Inn for a business trip, and while the location was convenient and the rooms were clean and decent, my experience was completely overshadowed by the terrible internet and poor customer service.

From the moment I logged in, the WiFi was unusable less than 1 Mbps, making it impossible to get any work done. Most hotels at least provide a functional basic connection with an option to upgrade, but this was beyond slow. When I went to the front desk for help, I was told I had to call another number. Why couldn’t the staff handle the issue directly? It felt like they just didn’t care.

After calling the number, I was told that the slow speed was normal, which was shocking. My mobile data despite having poor signal was faster. I then spoke with the manager to explain my frustration and ask for a solution. Instead of showing any concern, she was dismissive, rude, and condescending, simply trying to upsell me on the paid internet rather than acknowledging the issue. I honestly have never met such a rude customer service manager in my life.

This experience left such a bad impression that I won’t be staying at a Premier Inn again. I’ve also advised my company, whose employees regularly visit Derby, to book elsewhere. Basic internet access and decent customer service should be a given, and unfortunately, this location...

Right the good points hotel clean, perfect location, staff so helpful and the rooms and bed perfect however for one small detail trying to sleep in this hotel is like if you entered hell!! Its red hot and i mean hot and the aircon they keep telling you to use only goes as low as 19c and it not even do that. fan on full speed and couldnt even feel it thought ours was broke but spoke to others staying there and they had same with thier air con. doesn't help that the hotel doesnt have air flow, i mean if they scared of putting opening windows in because of jumpers etc then put a small opening window in which at least allows air flow in each room would help with cooling room down also. So if planning on staying bring your own fan if you prefer it to be cooler when trying to sleep. If a blue badge holder then there is on street parking which from 8pm saturday night till 8am sunday morning is free and blue badge gets you 3 hours free parking so if you arrive around 5pm and manage to get one of the on street parking spaces not the disabled ones !! You can get free parking from 5pm till 8am however if you go to your car after 8pm and change the badge time to 8-9 then come morning it looks like you just parked up again and get another 3 hours free parking which takes you to 11am-12am but this will only work if you staying one night...