Best and worst hotel chains ranked

If you're booking a wintery weekend away, be it a city break, Christmas market town, or escape to the countryside, you may want to reconsider your go-to hotel chain.

A Which? survey of more than 6,000 people has ranked the best and worst hotels with some surprising results. A pub hotel group has come top of the table and beaten the likes of Marriott and Hilton, while J D Wetherspoon replaced Premier Inn as a value for money brand deserving of Which? special recognition.

"A night away should be a real treat but with hotel prices climbing, finding a hotel chain that consistently offers comfort, good customer service and a charming location at a fair price has become harder," says Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel. Guests were asked to score their stays in small and large chains out of five stars in terms of cleanliness, customer service, breakfast quality, bed comfort and value for money.

Coaching Inn Group topped the large chain table with a customer score of 81%, despite not offering the cheapest average room price at £128. The chain scored a full five stars for customer service and for the description matching reality.

Intercontinental was only just pipped to the post, scoring 80%, brought down by its value for money rating of two stars due to a more than £300 average stay. If you're cash-strapped, J D Wetherspoon scored 76% with an average price of £70 per night - a £230 saving if you're willing to sacrifice 4% quality.

At the other end of the scale came Britannia, which came last for the twelfth time in a row. Scoring 44%, it received just 1/5 stars for the quality of bedrooms and bathrooms.

When it comes to small chains, Andrew Brownsword's 12 hotels topped the leaderboard. Rooms cost £272 a night on average, but their locations include manor houses and castles.

In joint-first place was Brend Hotels, located in the West Country, at a slightly cheaper £244 per night. Ibis Budget, Days Inn, Britannia, MacDonald, Malmaison and Qhotels did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Premier Inn said: "We're pleased that the 2,746 Which? members who answered for Premier Inn as part of this summer survey awarded us five stars for bed comfort and that they also rated our customer service and cleanliness highly." They said the chain was "continually investing in our guest experience" including new beds and updated menus. "We are always looking to improve and welcome comments and feedback - indeed we actively seek them through our own customer surveys.

We will certainly pay special attention to address anything that feedback suggests we need to.".