Mercure Bendigo Schaller

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.

This was the smallest motel room I have ever stayed in. I have never had to shuffle sideways to get past the bed before. The manager even admitted they had to have special shorter beds made to suit the rooms. Somehow, they made the photos on the website make the rooms looker bigger than they really were. I would not have booked, had I known.

What can I say this hotel certainly exceeds the 5 stars 🌟 that I’ve given it. As other people have mentioned the rooms aren’t overly large but they have everything you need and are very clean. The restaurant on site is also very good, but it’s not open until very late. There is no need to book as someone else mentioned but if you order they will call your room when the food is cooked and you can take it back to your room. At one point our tv stated to play up and as my husband was going to reception he bumped into the maintenance man who said he’d pop to us in a few minutes, true to his word he came and managed to fix the tv. All the staff including the manager are amazing and I’d definitely recommend this truly amazing hotel.

Our son was at the hospital nearby. The manager went out of his way to make us feel at home once he learnt this, frequently asking after our son’s health. They were fully booked, but extra care was given to move things around and arrange a room for us. The rooms themselves are great, clean and comfortable. Food is great also. We will always be very grateful for their hospitality.