On my trip to Edinburgh with mother dearest, we thought we'd try out one of the Hub by Premier Inn hotspots.
Hub by Premier Inn is a new edition to the already ever popular Premier Inns. It’s basically a more compact modern space. A big difference is the ability to be able to control things in your room such as the lighting and temperature using an app or the control panels in your room. It took me a little while to get used to it at first. At one point I was showering in the dark, until my mam came back to the room and the lights miraculously returned. It was an experience that's for sure.
The one we stayed at was beside the Royal Mile, right in the heart of everything. It was a couple minutes walk from Edinburgh Waverley. Try not to make the same mistake we did and go to the other Premier Inn on the same street though.
As soon as we entered you could tell just how new and modern
the place was. The staff were friendly and check in was a doddle. We had been chosen to receive a free room upgrade too which was just lovely
and gave our holiday and even better start.
Everywhere you look there’s comfy sofas and chairs just waiting
to be sat on. A relaxed atmosphere, modern and calming. Lots of grey and muted
browns with hints of lime green dotted about. It’s a stark contrast from the
deep purple hues you’d normally associate with Premier Inn, but I guess that’s the
whole point of it. It’s not normal, it’s something new and exciting.
Monitors had been fitted to tables so you could go on the
internet and send emails etc. Even power adapters to charge your phones were
everywhere. Integrated with the furniture as to not stand out too much. Everything
had been thought of and everything just worked well together, you know what I
mean?
Proven Dough is the name of the deli and bar that they have at the Hub. If the specialty teas and gorgeous arrays of food on display aren't enough to get you excited, then I don't know what is.
We mainly took advantage of the breakfast options as we were always out for dinner and tea. One night however, I tried a cous cous and pomegranate salad which was top notch.
We normally chose between the sourdough toast or the wookey cheese sandwich. Grilled cheese at it's finest and when you slather a good dollop of nutella of warm fresh toast there's nothing better. They all come with water/tea/coffee too. They're £6.95 a pop and there's a few options to get you started for the day. We ordered breakfast at the time of booking so it may have been cheaper, I'm not sure.
There was always plenty of empty seats to choose from which I loved. You could get your own tea and coffee from the nearby machine too. It's all included for free. Sometimes you can't beat a nice herbal tea before bed. Gosh I'm definitely old before my time.
The rooms were compact and quite basic but that's not to say they were lacking in function. You had headboards with control panels to control the temperature and the lights and all other manner of technological things that my brain can't comprehend. There were huge spaces under the bed to stow away our cases and a nice big TV for late night telly binging when we weren't too exhausted from sightseeing.
My favourite thing was the art above the bed. I loved how it had all of Edinburgh's finest things on there. The famous streets, the landmarks and everything in between all done in a quirky way. I'd like to imagine all hubs having this dependent on their area. If someone knows tells me.
The bathroom was dinky and cool and modern and all other manner of words meaning the same kind of thing. It's not the place to go for a nice relaxing bath, rather a nice brisk monsoon shower (yes they have those) to get you out into the world exploring all it has to offer.
This is a place that means business, to help you deal with yours. (Catchy new slogan maybe?)
From the new hotel smell, to the fresh bottles of water waiting for us every morning, the Hub really became a home for us for the couple of days that we were there. (We stayed in a couple other hotels too.) It was everything we needed to be, but more than that it was a nice place to be. I've been to so many hotels that just don't hit the mark and this wasn't one of them. It cost us £157 for two of us, two nights with breakfast. Sure we could have got somewhere cheaper and definitely somewhere more expensive, but there was no need to, we had everything we needed at the hub.
Have any of you been to Hub by Premier Inn Edinburgh Royal Mile?
