Mercure St Malo Front de Mer Hotel

Hotel is in an excellent location and the staff was friendly and helpful. The staff we interacted with spoke acceptable English. We needed a triple and this was one of the few options that was anywhere near the walled city area. The hotel has elevator service for all but the top floor...which is where the two triple rooms are located. So, please keep in mind that you will need to haul luggage up a flite of stairs. Also, pay attention to the skylight. that's you're only view of the water. As long as the weather is acceptable, make sure you open it up and get some air and you can look through it. We enjoyed our stay, but I probably wouldn't wish to stay in the room for more than 2-3 nights.

Location was great. (And this is the reason why I give it 2 stars but not 1) Room was below average: the worst of Mercure that I have ever seen. It is not better than any Ibis. And the room was still dirty after cleaning (see pictures). Air-con doesn’t work properly. Service was a disaster: it is incredibly understaffed during the august high season. There is often a queue on the reception desk. The receptionist is also the bar man/women. It seems that there is no additional staff outside the breakfast time. If you have any questions/requirements for them, you can expect the answer: “no, I can’t/I don’t have time/we don’t have this”. Staff just ignore you when they see you. Facility is a disaster: 1- they often claim that they have a parking shared with Ibes, in reality, they only have 5 spaces and no one get parked there (wondering if their staff uses the parking personally?). 2- no restaurant/dinner They treat Accor members as a s**t: as we were not happy with the room so we mentioned “we are gold member with Accor, is there anything that you can do?”, the receptionist cut us off by saying “there is diamond member staying here and we can do nothing for them”. Overall it is the worst experience I have ever had with Mercure or Accor in general (as Ibes is better than this Mercure). Anyone should avoid this hotel to save your holiday. Any average hotel/Airbnb would work better. The booking is not under my name, if Accor want to investigate further, we can share the booking detail.

We wanted somewhere with a view and an easy walk into the Old Town of Saint Malo, safe parking was also a criterial and the Mercure fitted our requirements. We arrived on a warm and busy Sunday afternoon, we had arranged parking in advance directly emailing the hotel (they have an arrangement with the Ibis round the corner), but when we arrived there was street parking directly outside that was free which we used. Some of the hotels in the centre of town feel a bit more claustrophobic with access and parking presenting a problem. We had been travelling for a month and had a lot of things in the car, but didn’t want to empty everything for just one night, we felt the car was safe on the street immediately outside. The member of staff at reception was friendly and the check-in process was quick and within no time we were in our sea facing room on the second floor. He also helped with a restaurant recommendation and booked a table for us. The rooms are not huge, but absolutely adequate. There was a kettle with some sachets of coffee/tea and a bottle of water. The bathroom had a bath with an overhead shower. It was well ventilated and bright. The really star of the show was the fantastic sea view. We had the windows open so we could enjoy the sound of the waves below and we loved the views towards Île de la Cézembre, Fort de la Conchée and le Fort National. The Seaview rooms get to experience spectacular views of the sunset. In the morning were were able to watch our ferry coming in - good to know it was on time. Although there is a road directly outside it was not busy at night and we were not disturbed by the any traffic noises. It is a 10 minute walk into the old town from the hotel along the seafront. St Malo is busy, so worth doing your research and maybe booking a restaurant in advance. We were only here for one night, but if you have time, definitely walk along the seafront and/or beach and explore the old town. We decided not to have breakfast which is served on the ground floor, instead we found a local bakery and sat on the beach with a croissant and coffee.

The hotel is right in front of the beach and a short walk to the walled city. Parking on the street in easy and cost is very reasonable (night parking is free). COULD BE BETTER: the temperature in the breakfast room. Way too cold!

We stayed here in early July and were looking for a room with a nice sea view and within a short walk of the old town. The Mercure met both needs very well. Check in was straightforward and the receptionist friendly and helpful. Our room was on the second floor and whilst there was no balcony, the double doors opened inwards and it was just lovely watching the sunset from there. The old town is about a 10/15 minute level walk. The only slight downside is no hotel parking, although that having been said we found some street parking quite easily which you pay for at pay stations and it worked out at less than £5 for about 24 hours.