Mercure Bendigo Schaller

This hotel met our needs perfectly as we were in town to see Frida Kahlo. The room was great & I was a little surprised by the negative comments in other reviews. I agree the bathroom is small & it would be difficult for guests with mobility issues or needed increased space. I also do not understand why body lotion is inside the shower with the shampoo. All in all met our needs.

Overall a comfortable hotel, although very little room around the bed, having to do the "sideways shuffle", and the shower was a tiny triangle, but the water pressure was great. It had a strange switch for the bathroom light/exhaust fan, which was next to the front door, and not near the bathroom. The restaurant was good, although people kept coming in and out of the three external doors along the seating area.

This hotel has some great advantages. It is right next door to the hospital (great for family visiting, patient recuperation, etc), and is a short (driving) distance to the town centre and restaurants and bars. Not walking distance. The hotel is filled with funky artwork from resident artist Marke Shaller. It will not be to everyones taste, but we thought it added interest and good talking points. Some will interpret it as an ego trip for Mark Shaller who treats the hotel as his own gallery and every artwork is for sale. Be not mistaken - lots of reviews have mentioned this - the rooms ARE QUITE SMALL. If you are looking for space and plenty of lounging spots, these rooms are not for you. If you are comfortable walking sideways up against the wall on one side of the bed, then go for it. Good for a single person working in town for a couple of days. Staff were very helpful and attentive. Food in the restaurant was quite good and staff were attentive. They need to look at better ventilation in the lounge/lobby/ reception area, as the smell of cooking pervades the area - right up to the lifts. Beds were quite comfortable.

The hotel was clean and tidy. the staff were ok, however we had requested a room with easy accessibility, as I had just undergone surgery on both hands. I needed my wife to assist in everything. On arrival, after we paid for the room, we found our room, and it was "cosy" short for small, more like a cheaper Ibis hotel, which I have used in the past and no had issues with, clean but very small. This room had a one person bathroom, and even smaller shower area. When we asked if there was larger / accessible room we were told all the rooms were the same, one had a small extra room but all bathrooms were the same. We ended up staying as there was a no refund policy, but we have learned an important lesson, deposit only - check the room is what you requested and don't believe it till you have seen it, all before you pay. We will never use the Mercure in Bendigo again, even as Mercure members we believe this was badly handled. Would have loved to have seen them offer somewhere else and say, sorry we could not accommodate you, be honest, especially as you admitted it was in your notes what we needed and you still went ahead and took the money, then had the gall to ask us our opinion on the way out, when we told you our opinion the manager a gent asked if we had asked for an accessible room or approached them after we saw our room ! the very person that we asked was right there and we had prompt him to tell the manager he had handled it. Bad training and exceptionally bad customer handling. The 2 stars are, 1 an honest opinion of your room staff keeping it clean, 2 for the night manager, a young lady, a new member we believe, assisting us with some ice for my swollen hands, everything else including the Tuesday, male manager and lady, a resounding 0. That young lady and your cleaners are the only ones holding you above flat 0 / negative if we could

they have the small rooms 19 sq m. There wasn't anywhere that I could sit and watch TV comfortably. If there would have been 2 of us it would have been very cramped. The room has a lot of items in put it was small and difficult to get around. There was a Juliet balcony that was very small. I was offered an upgrade for $80.00, which I declined. The food in the evening was very average and out of the freezer. The fresh fruit salad was not fresh. I was very disappointed.