Premier Inn Winchester

We spent an evening here after visiting the Winchester Christmas Market. We had a lovely evening in the restaurant, looked after by Shanon/Raj and Bushra - thank you very much for the detail of your service, and for laughing at our conversations (sorry Shanon) you guys are a great team, we thoroughly enjoyed our time with you. We were planning to head into the town later in the evening, but we were so relaxed, we stayed in the bar! Lovely day/night away.

Only really bad part was a cold room. Very uncomfortable. Food was good and room was clean. Staff were polite and friendly

Stayed here following a disappointing stay in Salisbury.
No issues here- room was clean and as expected for a Premier Inn.
Service in the restaurant was satisfactory and the food was ok. This is why it's a 4 and not a 5.
Should be able to pay parking in reception- the car park was dark upon arrival a we could not find the machine. Needed to go back to the car park after check in to register the car. A minor issue but nonetheless worth mentioning.

Yet again Premier Inn continues to get worse and worse. I always spare a thought for the team. They are always rushed off their feet and there are never enough of them. My stay at PI Winchester was no exception. Most of the team were nice but they were ran ragged. Over the last decade every Premier Inn I’ve stayed at has had less staff and it’s so clear how far away they’ve moved from caring about the guest and providing great service.

Stayed there with the group of 8, there was just one disappointment after the other but in short, they tell you on the phone parking is free for guests - it isn't. I asked the lady at the reception if the breakfast was included in the rate, she said it was - it wasn't. And here I am now, three weeks after, still chasing for the invoices they were meant to go to my e-mail but, you guessed it, they haven't.

Lovely clean hotel, plenty of car parking and the evening meal was lovely and good value. Efficient check in and check out service too.

The hotel was excellent in every respect; quiet room, very good bathroom, comfortable bed and hearty breakfast, but 2 minor niggles.
1. I couldn’t check in until after dark arriving by train. Not knowing where it was I set out walking. The route isn’t easy with a meandering footpath across streams, etc. If anyone is doing the same, the number 2 bus passes the door.
2. The USB socket for phone recharging was dead.

Booked a Premier Inn plus room as stayed at this hotel a few times. Staff were helpful on arrival, some staff came across as miserable. The room itself was clean and tidy, although only set up for one person to arrive, needed more towels, coffee etc. The bed was comfy, the bathroom was tiny, hardly room to move about. The Shower cubicle on the outside of the door was disgusting, rust and mould. Felt dirty. The hairdryer in the room was cracked/broken - health & safety issue!! The evening meal and breakfast were ok, although the menu options have been reduced. Car Parking charges now in operation. Small car parking spaces, that small when we went to leave, some idiot had blocked our drivers door, unable to open!! Overall hotel needs a good revamp, wouldn't book a Premier Plus again, well definitely not at that location. Value for money - NO! Premier Inn you need to do better.

Our room was very quiet, clean and the bed was very comfortable. We had everything we needed except Wi-Fi. The staff in the restaurant were very helpful. I can't eat gluten so they provided me with a sealed packet of GF muesli, which was very nice, and even made me some GF toast in the toaster that they keep in the kitchen just for GF products.

Some Premier Inns are excellent value for money & are welcoming - sadly this isn't one of them. Overall it seems run down and in urgent need of a refurb.
My room was dingy and there wasn't even a mobile signal (tbf not their fault) never mind there is free Wi-Fi. However In my room and also at reception was less than 1mb. I could pay to upgrade to "Ultimate Wi-Fi" - which offered around 8mb - Ultimate is a poor description. The bar / restaurant was ok, but I was served a short measure of beer and it was on the flat side.
Although the room was dingy the bed was comfortable. The included tea / coffee in the room was of poor quality.
Breakfast was of poor quality with overcooked fried eggs and poor quality bacon. To be fair the sausages were tasty. Staff were generally pretty good & friendly. Come on Premier Inn , you can do better

A nice, clean hotel with good food, friendly staff, an excellent location, and great value for money. Lift to all floors made access easier.

Noisy air dryer in the toilet underneath my room and a long wait for food in the evening. But had a nice welcome. Staff were very helpful. Hotel was clean. Good car parking facilities.

Overnight stay here before a cruise. Lift to all floors which was very helpful. Room good with comfy bed. Evening meal in restaurant was excellent. Car-park - paid a small fee. A long walk downhill to the town and cathedral - not 10 mins as advertised !

Very accessible from motorway. Adequate parking. Good welcome at reception. Room was clean and tidy and air conditioning was quiet and effective. The stay was spoilt by the ridiculously high tog duvet, which is totally unsuitable for the end of summer, which made it impossible to sleep well.

The heating made noises, the meal was really awful and half of it was missing, breakfast was no better. I was travelling with a child and no one really lifted a finger until a guest went and fetched someone so we could check in, the carpet in the room was filthy, need I go on? Very understaffed. But still, awful.

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Off on a short 3 day cruise, so to make it a proper break we added a few days ahead of the cruise.
The first stop was Premier Inn, Winchester. First time at this hotel and like all Premier Inn it didn't disappoint.
Didn't take the early check-in as wasn't sure on arrival time. So we parked up early and walked into Town. It's not really convenient placed for town as its a good 20/25 min walk and in places the path are narrow and badly lit.
But back at the hotel, we got room 331 (Premier Plus room), it was very nice. Great large bed, super powerful shower. Plenty of plug sockets, and USB charging sockets as well. Decent Fridge as well.
Little concerned as the room was next to the cleaners cupboard, so we were worried that it would be noisy when the cleaners arrived but no it was super quiet at all times.
Now the one downside and sadly that was Breakfast, I knew there was a reason why I've stopped booking breakfast, it's simply worth nowhere near the £10.95 cost. Very poor quality, to start with: hot plates would have been a good idea, the food was well over cooked, the Juice (apple) very poor quality, hardly any pastries available. The Tea/Coffee wasn't bad. The only reason we booked breakfast was because the hotel is too far from town, sorry but not making that mistake again.
Staff were very friendly.
So at £64 for a Premier Inn room it was superb value, Hint: always pay the slight extra cost and take a Premier Plus room, they are far superior to the normal rooms.
I can't think of any reason we wouldn't return to this one if we were in the Area.

Firstly, we stay regularly at Premier Inns up and down the country.

Apart from the dreadful one in Weymouth, on the front, we would return to them all. Bude and Lewisham being the stand out ones.

Good points:

Probably the most comfortable bed we've had for a long time.

Fantastic service

Enjoyable breakfast, well presented

Bad points:

Usual poor Wi-fi and useless air conditioning. This is the same at every PI we've stayed in and been going on for years.

Non stop radio blaring out from morning to night. Never experienced this before, is it for customers or staff?

Again like all PI we use it is in urgent need of re-carpeting and decorating

Check in not working - another common problem

Communal toilets in need of a SERIOUS deep clean. NOT acceptable

Location may be a little arduous for some, especially if you go in to town a couple of times day. There is a fairly steep journey back. Uber works, about £4 to £5.

The communal areas especially the entrance stairway to reception and reception itself were dirty, required maintenance and more thorough cleaning. The staircase felt unsafe and spongy and had been repaired in one section with black gaffer tape. The glass doors to reception were filthy with hand prints and greasy marks. Reception had out of order self checkin machine and the area was very tired, requiring a full makeover.

Checking in was a joke (same as last year when we attended). As previously stated the self check in machine was out of order (as it was 1 yr ago) and there was just one staff member checking in a vast queue at 3pm which stretched out into the life lobby! Check in was tremendously slowwwwww. We stood in the queue for 30 mins. This really needs looking at. There should be two staff doing check in at busy periods - its not rocket science!

Overall hotel does not give a great first impression

Great place to stay if you're cruising from Southampton or Portsmouth, interesting city and surrounding area. Car parking F.O.C, bed super comfy but bedroom very warm so took quilt out. Unfortunately the hotel was fully booked, so even though we booked for two nights, A) nowhere near enough staff to clean rooms, so didn't clean or tidy ours ours as they didn't have time, changeovers took priority, fair enough, but I twice reported leaking toilet but was never fixed, even though the young lady who I think was manager tried but failed to fix it, but credit to her for having a go. Didn't eat there, went for a Turkish in town 1st night and Tesco around the corner 2nd night