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Summary
- A survey has rated Britannia as the worst hotel chain in the United Kingdom for the eighth consecutive year
- Luxury hotel chain Sofitel received a customer score of 86 per cent and topped the ranking in terms of performance and price
- A minimum of five properties in the UK is mandatory for the hotel group to be considered as a chain hotel.
The consumer group Which?’s annual ranking has named Britannia as the worst hotel chain in the United Kingdom for the eighth consecutive year. The survey based on the feedback of 4,000 customers were asked about their stay at all the venues. While Britannia got 37 per cent after the guests found the venues as "filthy", Mercure is at the second-lowest position with a score of 60 per cent, and Days Inn Hotels at the third last with 62 per cent.
On the other hand, luxury chain Sofitel topped the charts with a score of 86 per cent in terms of performance and tariffs. The hotel chain owns three properties in London at Gatwick, Heathrow and St James.
The second position was secured by Premier Inn with 82 per cent score for offering reliable quality at a reasonable price.
The survey was based on certain parameters such as bathrooms, bedrooms, cleanliness, customer service and value for money. A minimum of five properties in the UK is mandatory for the hotel group to be considered as a chain hotel. Thirty-one or more properties in the group are owned by large hotel chains globally, whereas small to medium chains consist of a maximum of 30 properties in the group all over the world.
Britannia chain of hotels charge an average of £58 per night and is considered as one of the cheapest chains in the UK and has 62 hotels across the country. The popular ones are at The Grand Hotel in Scarborough and Liverpool's Adelphi Hotel. The guests have given only 1 star out of 5 for its cleanliness and “value for money”, describing one of the venues of Britannia as a "filthy hovel". One customer also claimed that it was “the dirtiest hotel room he had ever stayed in". The food was reviewed as “beyond awful”. The best rating that Britannia received across all categories was just two out of five stars.
Stained towels and stray hair were found when Which? had conducted a separate investigation into hotel hygiene at the Folkestone Britannia. The presence of enterococci bacteria was found in places like the bathroom door handle and toilet seat in the swab tests conducted by Which? at the Royal Albion, Britannia’s Brighton hotel. The rooms and surfaces had not been thoroughly cleaned between stays.
Rory Boland, Editor of magazine Which? Travel, said that even the global pandemic crisis could not force Britannia to improve its services.
Britannia has claimed that they have spent around £2 million on Covid-related precautions, and the chain was fully committed to providing a safe environment for visitors.
(Data Source: Which? Report)
