Mercure Hotel Offenburg am Messeplatz

I am British, checking into a German Hotel that is part of a French chain and I am in Italy, why is the date format American? let's hope things improve. We stayed at this hotel on a Saturday night many years ago when making the same trip so we knew what to expect, or at least we THOUGHT we knew what to expect. The on-line check-in wanted to take a 100€ security from our credit card even though we had pre-paid!!! We arrived at 19.00 after a journey of more than 650km looking forward to a quick swim to relax before dinner in their (from memory) excellent restaurant. Sorry but the swimming pool is closed due to a technical fault, OK we will come straight down to have dinner. Do we need to reserve a table? Sorry the restaurant is closed there are plenty of places to eat in town about 1 -1.5 km walk. In the room there was only two pillows and only 2 milk pods... we will get some more when we get back from dinner IN TOWN. We got more pillows but when I asked for milk was told "I don't have any" OK can I get fresh milk? I was presented with 1cm in the bottom of a coffee cup. Got back to the room to find that the A/C n the room was blowing out warm are regardless of settings, it was between 24 - 26 degrees overnight. In the morning, following the most excellent breakfast we have had in any hotel on this European trip, I asked to speak with the duty manager. I was told that "it's Sunday" in a tone that suggested I had made the most stupid request possible.

We arrived at the hotel around 5.30 p.m. to find the entrance blocked by approx. 10 firebrigade cars, police cars all with flashing lights and were told to come back a couple of hours later.. A big chlorine leak had come from the swimming pool area and the 5th floor was evacuated. We booked the hotel to be able to use the sauna and swimming pool uipon our arrival after along day's drive on Germany motorways and now it was closed. The reception informed that they had known about this incident since lunch time! Still they did not call us, as had we known about the incident we would have booked elsewhere. When we asked we were not offered any reduction in price due to the lack of facilities and we had to fight to get a slight reduction. We cannot understand how this hotel has got a 4-star rating. Ugly lobby, basic restaurant and no other facilities. Should be a 2-star rating at the most. A very expensive hotel for nothing. Will never come back.

My wife and I like this hotel. We have stayed many times when we travel between England and Italy. It is conveniently placed for the Karlsruhe - Basel autobahn, has generously proportioned rooms, a welcoming restaurant and bar with terrace, and a relaxing swimming pool. On our last visit however, we were told on arrival at about 2000 that the restaurant and bar were closed. This was very disappointing after a long day’s drive. We appreciate the staffing issue which was explained when we checked out but it would have been helpful if this had been communicated before our arrival so that we could have visited a restaurant before our arrival.

The room was really nice, cozy and clean; there was also a kettle with coffe and tea. Bathrooom with bathtub (always a bonus) and hair dryer. The staff was really nice and ready to answer every possible requests. They have a restaurant in hotel ( losed on Sunday) but there are also a lot of places to eat nearby, and the town center is only a 15-minutes walking away. Pool and sauna at the 5th floor and there also vending machines at every floor. The only thing I dont recommend is the vegetarian Flammkuchen (see picture). They usually serve it at breakfast but I ordered it for lunch because the restaurant was closed. It wasnt all bad I guess, it just... It wasnt nothing special. They could have added more vegetables or a sauce.

Everything was as expected except that the restaurant could not cater fully for me (Only a flammkuchen on offer), due to catering for a coach party. If when I booked this hotel it was made known to me the limitation of the restaurant that evening then I would have stayed elsewhere, especially after a long drive.