Times Travel often extols the virtues of Travelodge and Premier Inn. However, my wife and I frequently spend weekends at the Premier Inn Kings Cross or Euston and on every occasion we have paid significantly more than the advertised room rate because of “an event in the area”. Are we just unlucky or is it a scam? Keith and Alison Price, via email

Times Travel expert Julia Brookes responds: It's not a scam - many hotels do this and are simply responding to the laws of supply and demand. A spokesman for Premier Inn said that it operates a fixed pricing policy across all of its hotels, whereby the same rate is charged for every room in a hotel on a particular night.

If a large event is taking place within the area of a Premier Inn hotel, a “transparent event premium” is charged and is included in the total price quoted on booking. This is capped at £40.

Given the number of large events in Central London, it's not surprising that the advertised room rate is hard to get - and the opening of Eurostar at St Pancras means that it's often hard to get a room at all.

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