Premier Inn Joins the Price War

www.premierinns.com

As many already know, the occupancy war for UK hotels is in full force. Much of this pricing war has to do with the struggling economy which has forced people to travel less. This has affected the hotel industry at an alarming rate.

One of the most well known budget UK hotel chains, Premier Inn, has finally chosen to join the price war. This is a discounting strategy that Premier Inn’s main rival, Travelodge, has been using for quite some time now. One reasons why Premier Inn has resisted the price war for so long is to keep up with its superior offering. In fact, Premier Inn’s campaign slogan has been ‘Everything premier but the price’ for awhile now. The campaign itself was hugely successful and looked to add about 2% occupancy.

Now, however, Premier Inn is looking to offer a very limited number of rooms this summer for £29. This is an attempt to get the few tourists that do come through the UK this summer to stay at Premier Inn over its rivals.

However, experts say that this price war does not come without its down falls, and this goes double for Premier Inn. Most guests that stay at Premier Inn locations already know that they cannot haggle over the price of the room. Some guests may now see the new offer and make an assumption that these rooms will be discounted again in the future. This could cause some guests to delay their booking in the slim hope that they may be able to get a better price down the road.

This is, of course, not what Premier Inn wants. The main point of the price war is to fill up rooms rather than keep them empty. Both Premier Inn and Travelodge thought that they would be able to maintain good occupancy levels as businessmen traded down from 4 and 3 star hotels to their budget ones. However, the numbers have not been as high as expected.

For more information visit: www.premierinns.com