Hotel chains argue over who’s bigger in London.

Travelodge and Premier Inn lock horns: not for the first time! (image credit below)

We’ve already mentioned the close rivalry between budget chains Travelodge (which recently opened its 400th hotel in Waterloo) and Premier Inn.  Both have embarked on headlong expansion ahead of London 2012, building cheap and occasionally ugly hotels to meet their goals.

On the whole their vigorous competition is a good thing but it does often result in undignified spats.  A while ago Travelodge repeatedly challenged Premier Inn on aggressive advertising claims overs its pricing.

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We supported Travelodge to some extent on this as the evidence we found showed Premier Inn to be more of a mid-price hotel chain.

But on the other hand, we felt that Premier Inn may have narrowly won the overall head-to-head budget chain comparison which was conducted on the basis of TripAdvisor guest reviews for both groups’ London hotels.

Check best rate for Premier Inn Tower Hill from 30+ hotel booking sites

The well-located Premier Inn Tower Hill is the chain's top-rated hotel in London according to TripAdvisor reviews

Another slanging match erupted last week over “who is bigger”.  It started after Premier Inn put out ads saying it was “the largest hotel operator in London”.  Travelodge objected, saying Premier Inn was “overstating” its London presence and that its own figures showed it ahead.

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Whose figures do we believe?  London Hotels Insight doesn’t want to get involved, but we do say to both companies that there is one surefire way to unsettle their rival: be the first budget chain to offer free WiFi!

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Photo credits: chris5aw’s photostream, Premier Inn.

Tagged as: Premier Inn, Travelodge