Sofitel has been named the nation's favourite hotel chain.
A survey conducted by Which? has revealed its readers' views on the best and worst hotel chains in the UK. Questions looked at a range of different areas, including customer service, value for money, cleanliness and the quality of the food. Almost 6,000 hotel stays were reported on across 29 hotel chains.
The best UK hotel chains
Sofitel took the top spot, just beating Premier Inn with a customer score of 83%. It owns just three UK hotels (found at Gatwick, Heathrow and Central London) and is not the most recognisable brand. While Sofitel received a mediocre score for value for money (it is the most expensive hotel chain on the list) it got fantastic scores in the other categories.
Premier Inn was a notable high-scorer, as the biggest chain in the tables with 668 hotels nationwide and costing just £61 on average per night. That makes it the fifth cheapest hotel in the list. It got a customer score of 82%.
[SPOTLIGHT]Warner Leisure Hotels, Hampton by Hilton and Q Hotels also ranked in the top five.
The worst UK hotel chains
Britannia Hotels scored just 33%, and was only a fiver cheaper on average than Premier Inn. Old English Inns/Hotels didn't fare well either with a 50% score, and just above it, Principal Hayley Hotels managed 55% despite boasting the fourth most expensive prices among the surveyed chains.
The best hotel chains
Here's how the best chains performed. Please note, the customer score relate to all of the questions asked of the Which? readers, not just the sample questions we have picked out for the table below.
|
Customer service |
Value for money |
Cleanliness |
Food |
Customer score |
||||||
|
Sofitel |
5/5 |
3/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
83% |
||||||
|
Premier Inn |
4/5 |
4/5 |
4/5 |
4/5 |
82% |
||||||
|
Warner Leisure Hotels |
5/5 |
4/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
80% |
||||||
|
Hampton by Hilton |
4/5 |
4/5 |
5/5 |
3/5 |
78% |
||||||
|
Q Hotels |
5/5 |
4/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
78% |
||||||
|
Marriott Hotels |
4/5 |
3/5 |
4/5 |
5/5 |
73% |
||||||
|
DoubleTree by Hilton |
4/5 |
3/5 |
5/5 |
4/5 |
72% |
||||||
|
Holiday Inn Express |
4/5 |
3/5 |
4/5 |
3/5 |
72% |
||||||
|
MacDonald Hotels |
4/5 |
3/5 |
4/5 |
5/5 |
72% |
||||||
|
Novotel Hotels |
4/5 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
4/5 |
72% |
The worst hotel chains
|
Customer service |
Value for money |
Cleanliness |
Food |
Customer score |
||||||
|
Britannia Hotels |
2/5 |
2/5 |
1/5 |
1/5 |
33% |
||||||
|
Old English Inns/Hotels |
3/5 |
2/5 |
2/5 |
3/5 |
50% |
||||||
|
Principal Hayley Hotels |
4/5 |
2/5 |
4/5 |
4/5 |
55% |
||||||
|
De Vere Hotels |
3/5 |
2/5 |
3/5 |
2/5 |
58% |
||||||
|
Travelodge |
3/5 |
3/5 |
2/5 |
2/5 |
60% |
||||||
|
Thistle Hotels |
4/5 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
4/5 |
61% |
||||||
|
Days Inn/Hotel |
4/5 |
3/5 |
2/5 |
n/a |
61% |
||||||
|
Jurys Inn |
3/5 |
2/5 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
62% |
||||||
|
The Hotel Collection |
3/5 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
5/5 |
63% |
||||||
|
Mercure Hotels |
3/5 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
4/5 |
64% |
The cheapest time to stay in a hotel
A seperate Which? investigation found that September is the cheapest month to book a hotel. So if you're planning a weekend break in advance for next year, you might want to see if you can make your trip in September and save a bit of cash.
This conclusion was based on evidence that showed September to be the cheapest month to stay with hotel chains in Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh and Manchester.
This is a classic lovemoney.com article that has been updated