Hotel Mercure Marseille Canebière

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The hotel looks fine, but I regret booking and staying here. The area immediately around the hotel is run down and feels dodgy, but the real issue is the hotel management. They claim the rooms (windows) are sound proofed. They are not. You can hear street noise from 6am. But the noise internally is just as bad. Those the room fitting are very new, when a room door along our corridor closed, our room door shook. The rooms look well but are impractical. There is very little clothes storage. No presses or drawers. No work desk, so impossible to do any work. Sockets inconveniently located. Reception staff and management are indifferent and we saw no security staff at night, though some reviews claim there is security staff. Too expensive for very poor service. Avoid this hotel.

We stayed in this hotel for one night. It has a good location, next to the port. And it's rather noisy but in the night we could sleep well. I liked the idea of a small breakfast for 9 Euro as I dont want to eat too much in the morning. I hope it will come in many hotels soon

The hotel is situated in a bustling area a short walk from the old port. The location is ideal for most of the main attractions, including the port and Le Panier as well as the main shopping streets and plentiful restaurants and café’s. The Capucins Market is situated just behind the hotel and a lot of the local businesses are Moroccan or Turkish which lends a lovely ethnic vide and liveliness to the area day and night (very different to the usual French style, this part of Marseille really feels like a very different country). The hotel building has recently been tastefully restored. Given the bustling and lively surroundings the hotel entrance is kept locked and you will need your key to access. Given the great location and exciting area why am I only giving the hotel a 1 star rating? The reason is simple. In all the years I have been travelling I have never stayed to a hotel room without a shower (even if this was only a shower over a bath). To be honest I still can’t quite believe it, especially as this was the more expensive ‘privilege room’. In what can only be described as style over function the designer decided that a freestanding bath would look nice and presumably be more Instagramable? My morning routine was reduced to the undignified and frankly unpleasant experience of crouching in the bath and trying to wash myself using the hand held hair wash attachment (there is no hook to hang this on as the bath is fully freestanding and the water would, and does, go everywhere). Most unedifying and not something you look forward to. The last thing you want in a very hot country (and Marseille is the hottest city in France) is having to take a bath every morning. There was no mention of the lack of shower on the website (which actually shows a shower so perhaps it is luck of the draw and I was just very unlucky). Aside from the substandard washing arrangements the room was well appointed although not particularly spacious (except for a very long corridor which was quite useful for storing shoes and bags). The air conditioning was reasonably efficient but never seemed to cool the room particularly quickly. The privilege rooms have a coffee machine, very small kettle and a mini bar (standard rooms get a fridge which is probably just as useful). A minor point but I ended up having to obtain a new toilet roll from reception as the roll in our bathroom dwindled to just a few remaining sheets but was never replaced. Breakfast was adequate but not exceptional, the bread always seemed a little stale (this is France so you expect amazing bread not simply okay bread). There’s a decent selection of cold meats and local cheeses along with fresh pineapple and orange. Plenty of jams, cereals, nuts and of course croissants, pain au chocolates and cakes. The hot choices of bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, beens, mushrooms, tomatoes and even the option to boil your own egg but they never looked that appealing ( I didn’t try them so I can’t really comment).

We had a great 3 night stay at the Mercure Marseille Canebière - the location is easily accessible from the train station and metro, and has a tram stop right outside. It is also walking distance to Vieux Port and Marseille's attractions. The hotel is very modern and comfortable - rooms are on the smaller side and ours had an awkward layout due to the shape of the building (toilet was in a separate room on the opposite side to the bathroom) but otherwise the rooms are perfect for a short stay. Well insulated so you don't hear much from the street below at night. Buffet breakfast was great, however the restaurant is quite small so best to go early to beat the crowds. Many reviews mention that the hotel is in a 'sketchy' area however we didn't feel unsafe at all or experience any trouble, and besides some rough sleepers and general rubbish/dirt that you'd experience in any big city, I'm not sure what people are complaining about.

It's about 40min by taxi from the airport for the fortune of 80 euros and still one need to roll suitcases for 2 extra minutes - either that, or the taxi driver didn't want to drop us in front of the hotel... Location is really prime, right at Canebière and with a tram stop just opposite, less than 5min to the old port and with a number of shops and restaurants at walking distance. Amazingly one can't hear a pin drop despite the whole mess outdoors! The area around the hotel is just busy and lively, I never felt any sort of risk any time, and some of the reputation unfortunately has to do with ethnical prejudice. Nevertheless and like everywhere in the world nowadays, watch your belongings and behaviour. The whole staff is most attentive and friendly, they really do their best to accommodate your needs and even acknowledge the problems the hotel does have. They are the only reason why I didn't give the hotel three points only! Strangely no identification or credit card confirmation was needed upon check-in; I may appear to be the most trustworthy person in the world but that's not the case for everyone, and not only for my own safety in the house: IDs of whoever is checking in must be checked, as simple as that. They have different kinds of suites and the corner ones are compact yet functional, with one sitting room adjacent to a bedroom and separated by running door. That's better and more honest than many hotels, which don't even have that and dare to call what they have as a suite! Free space is minimal but it's all manageable in the rooms; however, the bathroom counts as a major design mistake! Despite its instagramability, it deserves zero in practicality and even offers a high risk of injuries for not having a proper shower and forcing the bathing in a slippery narrow bathtub. There are no hangers for towels nor shelves for putting toiletteries or whatever else away. The designer who dared conceive this must have his diploma cancelled! Breakfast is served in the mezzanine and offers delicious breads and jams, local honeys, hot dishes, cheeses and juices. It's all the same every single day and the presentation is not appealing, like the mushrooms looking completely burned. French cuisine is known for its delicacies and it wouldn't cost them much to introduce guests with some of them, changing the menu on a fairly regular basis. Internet works fine and even reaches the corner of the street. And housekeepers should learn to leave the key in the socket: if placed there, there must be a reason! The hotel doesn't offer any parking and unwisely doesn't have partnership with the closest one (Charles de Gaule), to grant us a better deal. It's a five-minute suitcase-rolling down the street. All that said, the feeling is that it costs way more than it should, not being at all a bad choice for your first or revisited time in Marseille.