Mercure Oxford Eastgate Hotel 4 stars

Well managed and very helpful and efficient staff.

My daughter and I came from SW Wales for a hospital appointment in SE London. Oxford was an overnight stopover. The hotel was very friendly, professionally run and very clean. The two rooms were clean, nicely laid out with good provisions for our stay and the staff were very helpful on arrival and the next morning.

Location is brilliant, right in the middle of town centre. The staff were very attentive and service was great.

They upgraded my room without me requesting it. Staff lovely and so helpful. Would highly recommend

UK CoVid restrictions require hotels to ensure guests are not staying in contravention of current UK Law. There was a breakdown of communication between the senior management resulting in a garbled voicemail that suggested we might not have a room at the hotel, which was only received after a 4hour drive to Oxford. This was shocking to receive, after receiving 6 emails confirming our reservation with Accor and Booking.com, plus speaking to the General Manager the day before arrival. I called the hotel twice before arrival at the hotel, to try to clarify the situation. On both occasions the phone was answered but also put down on me, thus breaking the connection. On both occasions it sounded as if it was being answered by somebody in a resonating hall-way, kitchen, or bathroom, with voices in the background. I had checked with Lancashire Police before making this journey. They had assured me that to drive to Oxford and stay locally whilst giving urgent assistance to an 85yr old lady as an "Emergency CoVid Bubble" was totally legal. The confusing voicemail and subsequent cancelled calls panicked me that I didn't have a room for the night, thus I called Thames Valley Police to enquire why I couldn't stay at the Eastgate in Oxford? They took my details and that of the Emergency Bubble, I was calling from such that if the Hotel called the Police when we arrived, the Police attending would know we were in a registered "bubble" and that our stay should be considered acceptable. Thus I arrived to check-in, with the knowledge that the Police may be called, but that I was in the right even though I had no guarantee that the hotel had kept my room available. Thus I was very anxious on arrival and honestly very angry and very confused. I did raise my voice at check-in, though my terminology was polite. I was panicked and desperate to know if I had a room or had to drive another 4hrs back home? I did check in, we did have a room. If there had been any other hotel available at this stage, I would have gone to it and walked out of the Eastgate in disgust! By the time I got to the room, I was still very angry. I ensured the check-in knew that I'd called the Police and that I'd had the phone put down on me twice from the hotel, before arrival. The Check-in lady gave us our breakfasts for free and offered a free evening meal too. We had to decline the meal, she didn't seem to understand what a "bubble" was and that we were not there for pleasure but to support the urgent needs of very elderly lady who was alone and thus would be returning to be with her after checkin and wouldn't be in the hotel for an evening meal. When I had booked the hotel, I hadn't realised the car-park was out of action. I had called the day before arrival, only 2-3 minutes after booking to suggest I needed to cancel the booking. The General Manager took this call, checked why I was staying at the hotel in CoVid times and very kindly offered me his personal parking space...for which I continue to be most grateful for his generosity and kindness on this issue. Later, leaving the hotel, we encountered the Check-In Lady standing outside waiting to go home at the end of her shift. We saw a totally different side to her and to the check-in problems, chatting calmly outside with her. Both my wife and I really liked her, found her interesting, with good English (of Greek origin) and a considerable knowledge of the hotel industry from her home, her studies and the Accor group. She was the Deputy General Manager and was mortified that her staff had put the phone down on me and that I'd felt "pressured" to call the police mentioning the hotel by name. She described how physically upset she had become after we had gone to our room and she'd had the chance to digest some of what I'd experienced. She was desperately sorry that this breakdown of communication had escalated into such a painful experience for us. In a nutshell, she was lovely! Her name was "Nelly" After encountering Nelly in this happy encounter, I totally calmed down and the stay thereafter was good. Our bed was beautiful and comfortable, our room was gorgeous, the breakfast was amazing (that it was free is incidental). The staff were friendly and helpful. If we had not met Nelly, where she totally turned around our existing negative feelings towards the hotel, then I wouldn't be writing this online-review. This would have been a formal letter of complaint to the Managing Director of Accor Group, translated in to French and delivered to their Head Office by courier. A note to Accor HQ: At the time of making this booking I joined "Accor Live Limitless", with their promise of the cheapest rooms and rooms offered at prices not available to the general public. It was with regret then that I noticed it was cheaper to book this room for our stay via Booking.com, than the Accor Live Limitless website. How is this possible given your marketing statement? I can see no value of my continued membership, other than to receive your marketing emails? This was NOT the reason I was tempted to join!