Mercure Bedford Centre Hotel 4 نجوم

Incredible stay, lovely staff and great facilities! Special shout out to Mohan who solved a wee issue we had with one of the rooms we booked.

Having arrived on a Friday afternoon for a 2 night stay we found the car park which is behind the hotel and found the entrance from the car park into the hotel. This entrance is nothing like the one shown on the promotional picture, this is a scruffy rubbish strewn back door ( see photos). We then had to negotiate a narrow corridor to the front of the hotel - more like the corridor on a cross channel ferry in the 80s/90s. The lady on reception was welcoming and we headed off to our room - back along the narrow corridor! After driving 100+ miles a cup of tea was in order - so back to reception to get some regular tea bags - only Camomile or Earl Grey in our room - please note, we are in England, some English breakfast tea please or better still Yorkshire Tea. We decided to go and find somewhere to eat and only went just over the bridge before we found Bedford Nazar Kitchen which we would certainly recommend. Breakfast the next morning was terrible. I am Coeliac and had to ask about every item because nothing was labelled with allergen information - so I felt very awkward. I asked for some gluten free toast which despite trying twice the kitchen found impossible to provide - all I got was warm bread. The view from the restaurant to the river is great though - but it's the only thing in the restaurant that was. We felt that breakfast ( with my own gluten free roll) at McDonald's would have been preferable and considerably cheaper. On the Saturday night we came back from a nearby concert around 11.30pm to find the hotel car park full because of a function - we only managed to park because a couple of staff members came out and drove out of the carpark. We also experienced a fire alarm during our stay - false fortunately but staff were like headless chickens, not knowing what to do and not telling us when or if we could return it our room. When we did return we discovered the cleaner who had been near our room had abandoned her vacuum cleaner when the alarm went off and it was stopping a fire door from closing - fortunately her actions did not allow a fire to spread. Would we recommend this hotel or stay again? Probably not unless we were very desperate!

It was essential to provide feedback about our recent stay and extend our heartfelt thanks. You made my group booking process really easy and answered all my questions professionally. My entire group had nothing but good things to say about Mercure Bedford and everyone said the beds were to die for and so divine to sleep in. We loved the setting and proximity to the town centre and beautiful views from the riverside rooms. Unsure how I ended up with the smallest room but even then the rooms provided all the room and facilities needed to make the stay comfortable. Great walks were taken along the riverside and we frequented some restaurants too. Your reception team provided very useful information about breakfast and advised which periods were busy, however my group went across the entire breakfast hours and none mentioned any long waits. It was all very leisurely not to mention tasty with plenty of choices. The staff genuinely couldn’t do enough to help and assist us and a credit to Mercure Bedford. Until the next time best wishes

This has to be the worst hotel I've stayed in the UK. The 'apparently' refurbished rooms look nothing like the pictures online, the rooms are extremely run down and smell awful. More importantly the cleanliness was beyond believe. Blond hairs from previous guest left on the chair, bed and sink (we have black hair). After complaining to the manager, I requested to be moved they could not accommodate and said they would reclean while we were out all evening at a wedding. They only got rid of the hairs. I requested a refund and was declined which is appalling. Had it not been 11pm and we were with young children I would have left and gone to another hotel. Do not stay here.

I've stayed at this Mercure a couple of times before and wrote a review on it a couple of years ago. My stay this time was not quite so satisfactory. On arrival there was quite a wait until the room was ready (way past the specified 3pm time which you would think was late enough). I was provided with a nice room on the 8th (top) floor but I soon discovered a problem: one of the windows could not be closed and let in a lot of noise. Going straight back down to reception, the manager himself came up, did something to the window and announced that it was now "closed". In fact I soon discovered it wasn't closed at all - the fitting was too damaged or worn out for it to close. I suppose I should have immediately asked for a change of room but I'd wasted enough time. The hotel gets busy at breakfast and the next morning one lady was rushed off her feet trying to keep everything topped up. It was quite a reasonable breakfast, though not the standard I remember of the Mercure in the past. If you choose to eat breakfast at the hotel, I suggest you make sure you get a room rate that includes breakfast - otherwise you will be charged £16 per day per person! There are an additional 4 or 5 floors above the hotel in this building which I assume are owned quite separately, not by Accor, so just knocking it down isn't an option. One day this is what will need to be done though. In the meantime it ticks on, busy with business traffic but it's not a hotel I'd choose to stay in again. There are too many things in the hotel getting old and tired.