One million Premier Inn guests have told us...and we've listened!

By: Premier Inn | 6 Shares 137 Reads

Premier Inn announces overall customer satisfaction up 14.2%* as the one millionth customer completes its 'Guest Recommend' survey

July 30, 2008 // Franchising.com // Premier Inn, the UK's largest and fastest growing hotel chain announced today that their 'Guest Recommend' customer satisfaction survey has received its one millionth guest response since it was launched in March 2006. The survey, conducted on behalf of Premier Inn by ORC International, receives an average of 35,000 responses per month and the feedback provided has revolutionised the way the hotel chain reviews and improves its offering to guests.

Guest feedback is monitored daily and when trends are identified, results are passed through Premier Inn in order that improvements can be made. As a result of the feedback received over the last two and a half years, Premier Inn has implemented a range of important schemes to improve their guests' experience. The all-you-can-eat Premier Breakfast for £7.50 was the first major initiative implemented as a result, and the hotel chain has been rewarded by seeing its quality of breakfast scores go up by 16.8% and breakfast service increase by 13.8%.

Other enhancements include the introduction of Digital Freeview, at an investment of over £5 million, which is currently in 196 hotels and will be rolled-out across the entire estate by the end of the year; hairdryers in every room; an increase in towel sizes; a trial offering guests a choice of pillows in every room; and the introduction of air-cooling systems across more than 7,000 rooms by this summer.

Guest Recommend has also allowed Premier Inn to monitor the success of the Good Night Guarantee. In 2001, so confident was the hotel chain that guests were guaranteed to enjoy their stay, they launched this 'no questions asked' refund policy should a guest not enjoy a good night's sleep.

Guest Recommend has allowed Premier Inn to monitor and respond to Good Night Guarantee feedback - in fact you can request a call back from Guest Relations team within 24 hours should you want to discuss your stay further - and the hotel chain is delighted to note that results show less than 1% of guests have ever invoked the guarantee.

Overall customer satisfaction for Premier Inn has gone up by 14.2% since March 2006 and the Guest Recommend score, a simple measure asking if guests would recommend Premier Inn to friends and family has shown an increase over the period of 10.6%. And in light of the current economic climate with guests more conscious than ever about getting the most out of every pound, the fact that Premier Inn has continued to make improvements whilst maintaining competitive prices means that value for money scores have also improved by 9.2%.

Patrick Dempsey, Managing Director of Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants says: "We have strived to understand our guests' current needs, and anticipate their future wants and I am delighted that Guest Recommend has been such a success. We continue to learn and adapt our business based on guest feedback every day, and this approach of putting our guests at the forefront of our business decisions has played a huge part in our success today."

* All percentages quoted are taken out of our Guest Recommend survey.

About Premier Inn

Premier Inn is the UK's largest and fastest-growing hotel brand with over 500 budget hotels and more than 36,000 rooms across the UK including recently opened hotels in Blackpool, Bournemouth and Liverpool. Premier Inn bedrooms are 22m² and feature en-suite bathroom, TV, and Internet access for business guests. Premier Inn offers customers a 'Good Night Guarantee' of a good quality room, comfortable surroundings and friendly service, which is unique amongst Britain's leading hotel chains.

Premier Inn was the first Britain-wide hotel group to sign up with national tourist boards, VisitBritain, VisitScotland and VisitWales; this means Premier Inn is now part of a new quality assessment scheme, specially created for budget accommodation.

A joint venture with Emirates has seen the Premier Inn brand develop in the Gulf region, with its first budget hotel in Dubai opened in Spring 2008. Premier Inn also has a joint venture with Emar-MGF to roll out 80 budget hotels in India by 2017. On a domestic front, Premier Inn is set to be the largest provider of budget hotels in London by the time of the 2012 Olympics. www.premierinn.com

About Whitbread Plc

Whitbread is the UK's largest hotel and restaurant company operating market-leading businesses in the budget hotels and restaurant sectors. Its brands include Premier Inn, Beefeater, Table Table, Brewers Fayre, Taybarns and Costa Coffee. Whitbread Plc employs over 33,000 people and serves 8.5 million customers every month in its 1500 outlets across the UK.

In the financial year ending 28th February 2008, Whitbread Plc reported an 11.3% increase in Group Revenue to £1.18 billion and 26.3% increase in Pre-tax Profit to £210.3 million. Whitbread Plc is a FTSE 100 company, listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is also a member of the FTSE4Good Index. In July 2008, Whitbread's market capitalization was circa £2.0 billion.

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