Premier Inn has announced a shake up of its room rate products in the light of uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis.
The group said that two new rate choices will give “added flexibility to guests making future post-lockdown travel plans, as well as those with existing bookings”.
A new Advanced Room Rate enables guests to amend their stay date up to 1pm on the day of arrival, or to cancel up to 28 days in advance.
The Semi-Flex Rate has also been relaunched, allowing guests to amend their stay date up to 1pm on the day of arrival, or to cancel up to 3 days in advance (instead of the previous 14 days).
The existing Flex rate allows amendments or cancellations up to 1pm on the day of arrival, while the Non Flex rate does not allow any amendments.
But in what Premier Inn says it believes to be “an industry first”, all existing Non Flex reservations are being transferred into Advance bookings, and all existing Semi-Flex reservations will now benefit from the new cancellation policy detailed above.
Premier Inn said that the move “ensures all Premier Inn guests can take advantage of the extra flexibility now being offered”, with all customers with existing bookings being contacted to advise them of the new benefits.
The group said that Advance Rates start from £35, and “are available for customers who do their travel planning early”.
It stressed that the majority of its hotels are currently closed to all but key workers, and will remain so “until it is safe to re-open in line with government advice”, with bookings currently being taken from the end of May.
Commenting on the news Premier Inn’s managing director Simon Ewins said:
“We fully appreciate these are uncertain times for everyone and are pleased to launch our new Advance and Semi-Flex rate products.
“In the first instance, it was really important to us that all our existing booked guests were able to take advantage – so we’ve automatically transferred every booking to the new products. In particular, this is great news for people who were booked on Non-Flex rates and were previously unable to cancel or change their booking and can now do so within the new rate rules.
“Other than those supporting key workers, our hotels are of course currently closed, but we hope the new rate products will bring a new world of flexibility to all our customers and help them book with confidence”.
