Hotel Mercure Bordeaux Centre Ville 4 stars

Not the absolute worst I have ever stayed in. The bathrooms were reasonably clean and the cleaning staff were very polite and diligent, which is important during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Those are about the only positive remarks I can make. On the other hand: - We originally stated in our booking that we expected to arrive at 3pm but received an immediate reply to say it might not be possible to check in then. Seemed odd given the hotel was very empty and this could easily have been planned for. - In the provisional invoice the staff initially tried to charge me for a breakfast I had never eaten. Quite odd as I did not take the hotel breakfast on any occasion. - Staff did not seem especially welcoming or bothered that we were there. Again, seems odd given there were very few other customers there to spend time / money in the hotel. - Room (Standard double) was very cramped with only small cupboard space, no drawers, no proper desk and no chairs. Quite pathetic considering the high price per night Mercure Bordeaux charges compared to other hotels and Airbnb. - Also again seems odd your staff did not wish to allocate us a better quality of room given the hotel felt empty and there must have nicer rooms available in the standard double category. - If you make people feel welcome and offer them the best available facilities within the category they have booked, they are much more likely to want to spend time and money in your hotel. - We left with the impression that perhaps the management and staff lack the basic commercial instincts to run a business and generate revenues from customers in any circumstances but are especially poorly equipped to do so in the middle of a global pandemic when you need to be making a real effort to make customers feel welcome and to retain their loyalty. - This experience has virtually guaranteed that we will stay in an Airbnb on our next visit to a French city other than Paris, and Mercure has lost out on repeat custom from us both in Bordeaux and everywhere else in France*. A more welcoming and generous attitude could easily have resolved this. *I have stayed in your hotel sites in England and they are of much higher quality all round so would be prepared to stay in a Mercure UK hotel although now with some hesitation after this experience.

Mouse in the breakfast area, shower not working properly

I am not sure how the property received a four star rating. The location is good. The rooms are small and functional but that’s it. I would expect such accommodations from a three star hotel. The blow dryer was dated, could barely dry our hair. The beds were hard, no iron in the room, one bottle of water when two persons were included in the reservation, dated furniture, a small bottle of “all in one” shampoo/conditioner/body wash. The breakfast had no healthy options. Absolutely no vegetables, no fresh fruit assortment other than bananas and apples. There was only powdered eggs, no omelettes or sunny side up. There was lots of bread, pastries, ham, and one type of cheese. The coffee was good. Overall, the stay was functional but if you are looking for comfort or extras, I wouldn’t recommend this property. The reception staff was very welcoming and friendly.

We received a very cheerful and efficient welcome at your reception with plenty of help with orientating around the city. Checkout was equally relaxed and helpful. The room was clean and well prepared and there was plenty of information about pandemic precautions in the public afreas.. The hotel is in a rather difficult location in the Meriadeck commercial quarter, whose original concept of pedestrian access by elevated walkway seems to have been abandoned and street level access on foot is a little hostile and threatening. Perhaps you could consider offering guests card access to a first floor entrance?

Paid extra for rooms to be accessed from 9am as advertised. Arrived at 10:30 to be told only 1 room was ready. When arrived at that room found it had not been cleaned at all and had litter and items in from previous guests. Not ideal in these times when cleaning is paramount importance. Reported this to reception and got moved an hour later. The “early” rooms were not ready until after mid day and we had to sit in a dirty one until they were ready.