Are full service hotels a rip off?

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Crawford: corporate clients are fed up with being ripped off by full service hotels.

Corporate clients have started to question the value of full service hotels and many are opting for no-frills accommodation options instead.

That was the statement made by Darroch Crawford, the MD of PTI Gulf Hotels, which is poised to roll out the Premier Inn budget hotel brand across the GCC.

"I am not having a go at the full service sector, but corporate businesses say they are so fed up with being ripped off," he said, speaking to ATN at the recent Business Travel Show Dubai. "It's really about getting value for money and in this respect, budget hotels are becoming the smart choice. We have customers staying with us that can afford to stay in four- and five-star hotels, but they can't justify doing that."

PTI Gulf Hotels has ambitious plans to roll out 30 hotels in the GCC by 2012 and 70 in the Middle East, including Turkey, by 2016.

"We will have 10 or 11 minimum in Dubai within the next three years," said Crawford.

He stressed that Premier Inn's many key selling points included its large average room size at 24m², compared to 19 m² at Ibis, and 22 m² at both Express by Holiday Inn and Centro (Rotana's budget brand), as well as its many facilities spanning shower, bath and bidet, in-room safe and fridge, and a pool.

"We call ourselves limited service, but there is nothing limited about the service. We are also consistent in terms of service and cleanliness - we carry out external audits - as well as pricing," said Crawford. "Other hotels are just names and are often inconsistent, but we are a brand."

Crawford also highlighted Premier Inn's fixed and fair pricing policy, which applied to both volume and individual bookings in order to maintain value for money.

"Prices will start at around AED 450 (US $123) and will never go above AED 650 ($177), and that includes taxes and charges, but not breakfast," he said.

The first Premier Inn will open in Dubai Investment Park at the end of March.

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