Eurostar rebrands its three travel classes

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• BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

  28 Apr28 April 04:19

  If Mrs Richardson stays will she be able to see the sea from her room?

  • memesweeper says:

    28 Apr28 April 06:36

    I know naaaaarthing

  • Neil says:

    28 Apr28 April 07:27

    Mrs Richards… 😉 And Krakatoa hopefully

  • Paul says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:47

    Mrs Richards: And another thing – I asked for a room with a view.
    Basil: (to himself) Deaf, mad and blind. This is the view as far as I can remember, madam. Yes, this is it.
    Mrs Richards: When I pay for a view I expect something more interesting than that.
    Basil: That is Torquay, Madam.
    Mrs Richards: Well, it’s not good enough.
    Basil: Well … may I ask what you were hoping to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeeste sweeping majestically … ?
    Mrs Richards: Don’t be silly. I expect to be able to see the sea.
    Basil: You can see the sea. It’s over there between the land and the sky
    Mrs Richards: I’d need a telescope to see that.
    Basil Fawlty: Well perhaps you should consider moving to a hotel closer to the sea. Or preferably in it.
    Mrs Richards: Now listen to me; I’m not satisfied, but I have decided to stay here. However, I shall expect a reduction.
    Basil: Why? Because Krakatoa’s not erupting at the moment?

    • Gordon says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:28

      A true classic indeed! Ahh the bygone era of true comedy….

    • Matt says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:43

      That made me smile. Thanks Paul!

• zio says:

  28 Apr28 April 04:30

  All rooms have a bath and a view.

  • Ian says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:07

    Is this true at all Premier Inn hotels? We were disappointed recently (Inverness) to find that Premiers Plus rooms only had a shower whereas the standard rooms all had a bath.

    • NorthernLass says:

      28 Apr28 April 08:11

      What were you expecting, the Sydney Opera House?!

      • bennymoon says:

        28 Apr28 April 08:53

        The Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

  • Flyoff says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:11

    Looks like the Premier Inn rooms will have a view of the Hampton as it is built behind it

    • Paul says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:31

      You haven’t seen the steepness of the hill it’s built on then?

      • Flyoff says:

        28 Apr28 April 16:40

        I have stayed at the Hampton and the Premier Inn is on the opposite side of the road so has no elevation advantage

  • Alan says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:56

    I’m sure pretty much all baths have a view of the taps LOL

  • Greenpen says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:57

    For those that don’t know, Premier Inn baths are very narrow and not for lounging whilst you finish the last 100 pages of Crime and Punishment. They cramp you elbows something awful! They are just a tray for the shower for all intents and purposes.

    I am very happy to use a Premier Inn. They are consistent and you know what you’re getting. There’s lots of them and they are conveniently located. If you are simply staying overnight for whatever reason they are a good choice.

    • Gordon says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:49

      +1

    • valeoak says:

      28 Apr28 April 13:38

      I agree, but only look for those with Premier Plus rooms. These hit the sweet spot in terms of decor / ambience in the room and are also very comfortable to work in with a good desk and chair.

      I know the team on here are very keen on Moxy Hotels, but I don’t really understand it. Whilst I’m a big fan of Marriott in general, if I had the choice of a Premier Plus room at a Premier Inn or a Moxy Hotel, I would take the Premier Plus room. Not only will the room be better but it’ll cost less too. The only things the Moxy Hotel will provide that’s better are the hotel lobby / general guest areas, but I never spend much time in those anyway.

      • Gordon says:

        28 Apr28 April 14:20

        Yesterday, I booked a Premier inn over a Moxy on Bath road Heathrow yesterday, ten minutes from each other, as premier inn was £40 cheaper and had a cancellation refund policy, Moxy had a cancellation policy as long as you cancelled within 24 hours of booking! What good is that.

        • valeoak says:

          30 Apr30 April 12:14

          Yeah, I think for LHR the Premier Inns are the best option overall unless there was an extremely good deal at, e.g., the Sofitel at T5 or Crowne Plaza T4.

          My preference is for the Premier Inn T4. It can take a little longer to get to a terminal (other than T4, of course) compared to the corresponding Premier Inn (e.g., PI T5 to T5) but that’s normally only an extra ten minutes and it can be a few minutes quicker than going from the non-corresponding Premier Inn (e.g., PI T2&T3 to T5). It’s the newest of all the Premier Inns at Heathrow and includes a does-the-job restaurant and bar and a 24/7 Costa Coffee shop by reception. It’s connected to T4 via the same covered walkway as the IHG and Hilton hotels. Because it’s at T4 and people often overlook that side of the airport, its rooms normally trade at least at a £25 to £35 discount compared to the other Heathrow Premier Inns (let alone the more expensive hotels). So unless you value at most an extra ten to fifteen minutes of sleep at ~£30, it’s a great option. As long you don’t need to be at the airport terminal too early, then it’s perfectly possible to make the journey to your terminal entirely for free via the internal transfer trains from T4 (which will certainly be an option for you getting to the hotel the evening before, e.g. from the Central Bus Station).

• Rich says:

  28 Apr28 April 07:27

  These new travel class names will apply to the ex-Thalys services too, but there’s no food in middle class (Eurostar Plus) on those routes, only on the London route..

• Tom says:

  28 Apr28 April 07:31

  Rebranding makes sense. I’ve been thinking for a while that BA and Virgin were ahead of the game in not calling their premium cabins ‘business class’. It was a questionable name to start with and even more questionable now the majority of passengers in said cabin are premium leisure travelers and the actual business travelers are often stuck back in economy / premium economy…

  • Andrew J says:

    28 Apr28 April 07:34

    Or on Zoom at home.

  • JDB says:

    28 Apr28 April 07:40

    On the trains in China, Business is the highest class, then First, then Second to add to the confusion for anyone travelling there. Business does get you a separate entrance, security, check-in and lounge plus an escort to your train seat which is a fully reclinable bed.

    • lumma says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:20

      Have they stopped calling them “soft” and “hard”?

    • Charlie says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:22

      Regiojet run a good train service between Prague, Brno, Vienna and Budapest. Business is the top class. Compartment of four. Food menu (payable) is fairly priced. Complimentary glass of fizz. It’s about 1,500 CZK (circa £50) for the whole route. About half of that for BUD to VIE, or VIE to PRG. I’ve taken the train many times. Download the app, buy the ticket in your phone. Often, there is good last minute availability, though booking ahead (a day or so) or for weekends better, especially if more than one seat needed.

      • Gordon says:

        28 Apr28 April 10:06

        I took the overnight train from Hanoi to Da Nang on a tour of Vietnam around 5 years ago, with my son, (Same train that was featured on the recent “Race across the world”, (Due to the China leg being cancelled). We were in a sleeper cabin with 4 bunks, that was business class for a better word! (Snacks and drinks were bought round at bargain prices)The alternative choice was a standard bench seat with hoards of Vietnamese sleeping on any available space. Managed to get some broken sleep, as the train slowed regularly, and this caused the adjoining carriage coupling gear to collide with ours creating a loud metallic bang!
        I must say it was an experience!

  • Nick says:

    28 Apr28 April 09:29

    Funnily enough BA has been experimenting with taking the cabin back to ‘business class’… look back at your emails for the previous premium sale campaign. A/B tested between Business Class and Club World… the former worked better so there’s a slow movement towards it again at least in publicity material (I suspect the cabin itself will keep the CW name though).

  • Will says:

    28 Apr28 April 11:12

    I like the simplicity of virgins branding as economy, premium economy and upper. It’s very clear.

    I’d also say BA have made a clear distinction in Club World vs Club Europe so you can easily tell if your on a wide body with a bed or not compared to say the USA where domestic first is usually just a recliner but domestic business can sometimes be a bed which is very confusing.

    • Andrew J says:

      28 Apr28 April 13:43

      Virgin’s branding is now even simpler – for premium economy – “Premium”.

    • flyforfun says:

      28 Apr28 April 14:48

      I had the great delight in explaining to a label queen at work that her flying Upper Class in Virgin was not First Class. To the uninitiated it may seem like First, and with the gradual slip back features to the lower classes (F to J, J to W only – not sure if any major comfort feature has slipped from W to Y – except maybe on the the A380) you might think that it’s a higher class, but those in the know, know.

    • Cicero says:

      28 Apr28 April 22:37

      Never has the use of an apostrophe been more important, although the concept of an economy virgin is intriguing.

      • Charlie says:

        29 Apr29 April 00:39

        Indeed. Although the apostrophe was there in it’s and also I’d, though missing in your. Along with an E. So can’t be blamed on spelling correct. More likely Harrow.

        • Gordon says:

          29 Apr29 April 07:09

          Spelling! You mean Grammar.

• Gordon says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:07

  @Rob – Re having a soft spot for seaside hotels, I thought one of your best seaside hotel reviews, was the Grand Hotel Eastbourne in July 2023, sadly not under Hyatt branding for much longer.

  “The local council ended up having to fund the completion of the project”.

  Someone may be better informed than me, Premier inn is owned by Whitbread, a company that appears to be very profitable through their premier inn properties, so why did the local council have to step to complete the project, as oppose to Whitbread themselves completing the project? Is it a case of Whitbread just lease existing and new build properties, and do not fund the build costs of the latter…. Just curious!

  • JDB says:

    28 Apr28 April 08:41

    The building was funded by Torbay Council and it was their contractor that went bust, so their problem to fix with additional borrowings. Whitbread is smarter than local authorities and/or central government who usually aren’t too good at managing projects or running businesses.

    • Gordon says:

      28 Apr28 April 09:16

      @BJ – Thanks for clearing that up, so this will be a leasehold, so Whitbread has a mix, as they do have freehold properties as well, including around 40 properties in Germany, their biggest expanding market outside the UK.

  • Hsss says:

    28 Apr28 April 09:17

    Most Premier Inns are leased rather than owned by Whitbread.

• Paul says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:49

  Stayed at the Hilton last autumn. Nice hotel but no parking and not loads of options close by.

  We spend six figures a year at premier inns for business bookings. Shocking booking process for more than 4 rooms, but premier plus rooms are a million times better than most HIX in this country. Just a shame most Premier inns close their bars at 9pm-10pm nowadays

  • Bigmaggot says:

    28 Apr28 April 09:53

    There is a massive underutilised car just behind the Hampton, hence the premier inn has just been built on part of it. There is plenty of other car parks close by 2 mins walk, not sure what your issues were

• Alan says:

  28 Apr28 April 08:58

  Isn’t it just as likely the deal with Raymond Blanc has come to an end so they are removing his name? I guess they may well dumb down the service at the same time though.

• Sue says:

  28 Apr28 April 09:07

  Re New Premier Inn in Torquay. They built on a car park but will be charging £9.50 per 24hrs and have 100 dedicated spaces for this. This info is NOT on their website at moment and I had to email to find out. Took 3 days to answer! No phone number either – just the central PInn one. Very poor and unlike P Inn I thought.

  • Andrew says:

    28 Apr28 April 09:56

    Maybe they’ve updated it but their website clearly says paid parking at the top and has pricing further down the page:

    “Hotel Parking:
    Limited on-site chargeable parking managed by Horizon will operate on a first come, first served basis at £3.50 per 24 hours. Alternative parking can be found at Shedden Hill Long Stay Car Park, TQ2 5TY. Pay and display parking available 24/7, up to 24 hours at £9.80.”

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