Mercure Curitiba Batel 4 estrelas

I booked into this hotel because it is where the event I was attending was being hosted, my loyalty brand of choice does not have properties in this city, and because it was my first time in the city. Take this review with a grain of salt, I am North American and I travel often and stay in large chain hotels. My expectations may be too high. First, the pros; - well located (great restaurants, shopping, and activities close by) - excellent water pressure and temperature - the really important things are clean (sheets, towels, and toilets) - beautiful lobby The cons: - booked a deluxe queen room (one level up from the bottom category), and the “soaker tub” is a mess, cracking from the wall and the finish is peeling off leaving blue and beige marks. I wore my flip flops to shower - scuff/dirt marks on room walls and doors - no mattress protecter (eww) - the toilets do not have enough pressure to flush anything but liquid. I know I should be disposing of toilet paper in garbages, but habits are hard to break and if you accidentally drop it into the toilet you get to look at it for the remainder of your stay. - front desk is completely unconcerned about the points raised above and just shrugged. It was pointed out to me, “as you know” (no, I didn’t know) that they are completely sold out so no options to move to a different room. - my room (1508) looks like they ran out of money while “refurbishing”. Carpet still there and bathroom fixtures appear to be original, thus old and tired. - motion sensors in the hallway (cool, energy saving) that take some time to turn on leaving you wandering in the dark. Made me feel unsafe - two elevators and when an event is being held or check in/out times you will wait, and wait, and wait. When I come back, I will be checking out other options to see if I can find a property that is in good repair and the rooms match the lobby. I am definitely counting down the hours until I check out and move on to another property.

My stay here is average for the following reasons. Pros -good breakfast buffet -gym is ok (needs a foam roller and better yoga mats!) -good location -supermarket is around the corner -cable tv -Hotel Staff are super nice and friendly Cons -billing takes along time, make sure you get the right invoice printed (it took weeks last time to get the right invoice) -bar is only one person and takes a while (but drinks are not bad!) -lifts are alittle slow - service is hit / miss it depends who you ask..

Hotel looks nice but their billing and food service are awful. They refused to cook me a vegetarian meal, telling me I should eat chicken. Eventually they gave me a plain plate of chips. I complained at check out and the hotel took the price of the meal off the bill. Excellent, I thought that was that. No such luck. A month later, the hotel billed my credit card for the meal. But they didn’t send an invoice. With no invoice, I couldn’t claim on my expenses and I wasn’t even sure this was for the meal - it could have been fraud. I repeatedly called and emailed the hotel but they ignored me. Reported to head office also, but they took six weeks to reply and still sent no invoice. Eventually got a local colleague to sort out the mess. I understand the hotel actually broke Brazilian law charging a credit card when the card holder was not present.

Convenient location in Batel, a short taxi to shopping and dining. Hotel staff (front desk and bar/restaurant) need training. For example, it took 30 minutes to check out and get a correct bill. It took 20 minutes to get a drink served at the bar using the gift coupon given to us at check-in. That turned an unexpected gift into a headache. However, the staff is generally friendly, but not supported by systems or empowered by management to delight the customer

This was the very last time I tried to stay at the Mercure Batel... the rooms are all renewed but unfortunately the service is horrible - in less than 6 hours they had to change my room 3 times: 1st - super smoke smell in the room, 2nd - noise from a construction in the upper lever floor, 3rd - A/C was not working properly... plus, I had to call more than 4 times to beg for my RECEIPT!!! RPS...