Mercure Iguazu Hotel Iru 5 ดาว

Mercure’s Ms. Lucia was very pleasant and helpful, gave us a room on the top floor and was considerate to hand us our access cards earlier than check-in time. We arrived from the airport around 11ish and waited only 1.5 hours instead of several. We were able to freshen up before our 1:30 pick-up for the Foz do Iguazu in Brazil. She also gave us two complimentary drinks of our choice, helped us charge our charger and phones as there were no outlets that serve multiple adaptors or USB ports. Mercure Reception was prompt with requested wake-up calls. Mercure’s rooms are high-ceilinged, spacious, comfortable with a huge bathroom and sufficient counter space. There’s furniture to place baggage on that makes accessing personal effects convenient. Their swimming pool is big and overflows to a sort of moat. A jacuzzi and bar are by the pool where towels are available. Rows of rooms are interspersed with lush foliage. Their lobby and restaurant is elegant. They have fresh lemon and grapefruit flavored cold water available in the lobby. Their complimentary breakfast offers a nice spread of a variety of cold and hot food choices. Their breakfast staff are nice.

Overall, I’m going to give this five stars, because the basics were all there, and they went above and beyond in a couple of cases. First, the grounds are gorgeous, very well kept. The pool is very clean. The bar is well stocked. The rooms are comfortable and very clean and the balconies overlooking the pool are exceptional. Next, a shout-out to everyone at reception who worked with me on my Spanish but also spoke excellent English, from the minute that I contacted the hotel (using ‎WhatsApp to arrange for a driver) to our checkout. Everybody was very patient with my Spanish and also spoke very good English at reception. Next, the breakfast was outstanding! It was quite a bounty. I love a big beautiful breakfast, and this had everything. They were quick to refill the hot milk, and they had an espresso machine where we could make our own hot coffee. Plenty of pastries, in fact, probably a bit heavy on the pastries. I can’t imagine a bigger variety of pastries. Lots of fruit and hot chocolate. Perhaps a couple more hot protein items would be in order. They had eggs and sausage, and potentially another hot protein would be good, but overall a very hearty breakfast! Here are some areas that can be improved upon. 1. The bartending was hit and miss. One of the bartenders was outstanding and made me incredible caipirinhas, including a wonderful garnish that turned the lime inside out to make it look like a sunflower (see photo). We will be borrowing that trick when we bartend at home! But one of the other bartenders made really subpar drinks. Not enough sugar, way too much ice, way too much fruit. It was even hard to drink because there were so many limes in it. Perhaps if there is a head bartender they can review some skill sets with the other bartenders. 2. One of the hotel drivers made us uncomfortable. I almost considered leaving four stars for this, but it’s really not under control of the hotel that much. We had already arranged for all of our excursions, and the driver picked us up at the airport and then asked what we were doing, and we told him, and then he asked about other days, and we told him, and then he said that that did not sound like a good plan and that the person that we hired was rushing it to pack in everything. This was all while we were driving and he was translating on his phone. When we told him that it was already booked, he then just became really silent and didn’t talk to us for the rest of the trip. I understand he was trying to get some money and have us use him as a guide and a driver, but we were already booked. It just felt kind of invasive, because once we told him we had plans, he kept asking if we were booked through the hotel or what was happening, and it wasn’t generic questions like “are you going to the waterfalls?“ It was more invasive (asking who we were using and why and what was happening). When I told him the name of the tour company, he seemed really put out. It just made the drive in uncomfortable. And then later we used him for something else (we asked the hotel to call a driver, and it happened to be him) and he was really quite cold to us. It’s like the minute we told him that we booked with a tour company and we weren’t going to use him as a driver for a tour he just became really quiet and cold. It was very odd. And uncomfortable. It was also a little uncomfortable that he was driving while using his phone and translating on the app. All that said, it did not dampen our experience for this wonderful hotel. We also had a beautiful dinner here, and I will review that separately.

Well situated for the falls with all the amenities you’d expect of an hotel of this size. Staff were friendly and informed, room was comfortable and food good without being exceptional. As you’re in the middle of the jungle you almost have to eat here which may not have been our preference for three nights.

The hotel is well located for trips to the nearby falls - about 20 minutes from the Argentinian parkland, and a 10 min taxi or uber ride in Puerto Iguazú. Friendly staff at the front desk and in the restaurant/ bar area. The food quality was very good in the restaurant and the portions were generous (we had two very nice lunches there). The room was lovely- clean, comfortable, very good shower and nice balcony overlooking the pool. The pool itself was very pleasant to sit around and enjoy a swim in. Our one small observation was that the pool bar service was a bit unorganised / very slow at times - there were a few occasions my husband was convinced that our drinks order had been forgotten, and ended up chasing them up. Also it would have been nice if the pool bar opened a bit earlier for soft drinks and coffees etc as there were plenty of people enjoying the pool after breakfast and before check out.

Quiet, comfortable well serviced rooms and very helpful staff. Water provided free of charge in the rooms. Good knowledge of the English language. Good cheap taxis to the town who take payment by card or cash. Rooms well equipped and very quiet