Mercure Darwin Airport Resort — Hotel in Eaton

We arrived at the airport and could only find the NOVOTEL. After driving in circles, we decided to go in and ask if they knew where the MECURE was - still NO SIGNAGE saying it was the MERCURE/ NOVOTEL. The Canadian couple in front of us had seen the MERCURE DARWIN SIGN on the roundabout and drove into the CBD only to be told to go back to the NOVOTEL at the airport. How hard would it be to put a MECURE AIRPORT sign somewhere - even NOVOTEL/ MECURE CHECK-IN on the front desk? We had a room selected with 2 single beds - we were told on arrival we had an upgrade - the room had a fold-out lounge and a queen size bed - nice upgrade in theory, but not for the person who found themselves on a fold-out lounge and had to go to the chiropractor after we left. One of the guests had a disability and was not fully mobile. Exhausted on the first night we arrived, we fell into our room, relaxed, and called the in room dining to find out there was no room service there was only ' take away food '. I have never stayed at a hotel of this caliber and been told there is no room service, only ' take away food ' notwithstanding one guest was unable to walk to the restaurant and pick up food and bring it back to her room. Now the staff working within the constraints of these weird rules did their best I admit, and they did bring food to the room once they realized the guest was disabled. But we were given a dressing down about not calling at certain times because they were ' busy times ' (not stated in the in-room book) and nowhere in the room book did it state you have to walk and go pick up take the away food. We even checked online, and it still stated the food was brought " .... directly to your room " but if you looked in tiny print down the bottom this was contradicted by information referring to picking up the takeaway food. So, the top part of the page online referred to traditional room service, but down the bottom, it explained it wasn't a thing. Heaven forbid if English was your second language! We could only imagine how many travellers who were relying on the new Novotel/ Mercure convenience to Darwin Airport - exhausted from travel collapse into their room to enjoy in-room service only to find it doesn't exist and they have to trek hundreds of meters ' to pick up takeaway food ' or as in our case - start calling Menulog because they deliver to your door. None of the timings advertised applied either - food finished at 9 pm - while advertised to midnight, too bad if you flew in at 10 pm and were peckish. Given the hotel is near the airport for the convenience of travellers, none of this is catering to travellers at all. The room apart from the fold-out bed the room was very pleasant, but the cleaning needs to be improved. There was a dirty sticky smudge on the floor from day one - the floor was not mopped once because it stayed there for the entirety of our stay, one guest wiped part of it up with wet toilet paper showing it could be cleaned off. It was still there when we left and probably still is. We had a smoker - the ashtray outside was not emptied once during our stay and nor were beer bottles or wine glasses picked up from outside, they had been there for days, and the ashtray was overflowing when we finally left. Service was slow in that we could have 10 empty glasses littering a table and no one would come to clear the tables. At lunch one day we returned our used plates and glasses ourselves because we didn't want to continue sitting amongst the refuse of our lunch, there were staff present, it just didn't occur to them to even ask if we would like our table cleared and they were so busy we couldn't get their attention. There were QR Codes everywhere - but none of them worked. Given the size of the resort, walking up and ordering was not always convenient particularly if a guest is disabled or elderly. The new big resort pool which we were eager to experience was by all accounts a big disappointment. There was no shade AT ALL, but we were offered the shade of bungalows at $ 100 for 3 hours. Overall -...

This hotel does not have room service. The pool has ZERO shade - all the photos are misleading. It is difficult to find. We placed a disabled traveller in this hotel over the June long weekend. They were travelling with someone who was from the cooler part of the world and not used to the tropical sun. They found out the hotel only offers ' takeaway food ' and guests are expected to walk hundreds of meters to pick up their own food a) if you've just got off a long flight it is the last thing you want to be doing b) if you're disabled in any way - have small children - are elderly or infirm - or just exhausted from travel, that's not going to happen. They did deliver the food when it was made clear that the guest was unable to walk up to the restaurant in the dark but they complained about having to do so - and then said there was only special times they could deliver the food. Additionally room service is supposed to go until midnight - it finished at 9 pm. None of the in room information matched reality or what staff were saying - they were even shown their own room service booklet which contradicted what they were saying. There were QR codes everywhere but none worked. Staff were really trying their best within the confines of what seems to be some seriously stupid management decisions. These rooms are NOT CHEAP and you couldn't even get a meal to your room. They went to try out the ' new fantastic pool ' in the morning but couldn't stay because there was no shade - they were told all the shade umbrellas had blown away in bad weather?! They were however offered shade in the poolside cabanas at $ 100 for 3 hours. When they first arrived they couldn't find the Mecure and drove around the airport aimlessly for a while - this is because you WILL NOT see the word MECURE anywhere - it is under and through a big NOVOTEL sign. Given the whole idea is to be convenient to travellers and it is so close to the airport - it might be helpful if you could actually find it! So your going to pop into Darwin - stay at the Mecure airport hotel and chill, grab some room service and jump on your next flight - you won't be doing that here.......if you can find the place to start with.( heaven help people with English as a second language ) We had booked a twin room with 2 beds - ended up with 1 bed and a fold out lounge which hurt the travelers back. This was described as ' an upgrade ' - in hindsight a proper bed would have been better. If you don't expect to use any of the amenities and just sleep - the place is...

I've stayed at this hotel twice. I want to like it but both times I've had issues that make the overall experience less than great.

First the good: very close to the airport, the pool area and "resort" parts are very nice and enjoyable.

The bad: Check-in takes a long time. There are other staff around that was doing other things, like restocking the refrigerators. Only after he was done restocking, about 5 minutes later, he helped check-in the massive queue that had formed. Rooms are very dated. Last time I stayed in a bungalow. It had ants. There were also a lot of wildlife noises from the nature area nearby - honking and quacking and whatever. I quite enjoyed it, and that combined with the thunderstorm the first night, made it feel like a rainforest or some other nature camping trip. However I only bring this up because some people may not appreciate it. Breakfast was overpriced and not good. I actually walked to the airport for some of my meals because the food is selection is limited.

My last stay I was there for 2 nights. I had to pick up a car and park it on the second night. I asked the front desk how to go about doing this and she told me there'd be a charge of $20. I paid and received the parking pass. I picked up the car and parked. So far so good.

I noticed there was a cement area in front of the bungalow that looks like it is for parking, but wasn't marked. I went to the front desk and talked to another woman and asked if I was allowed to park right in front. What ensued was one of the most frustrating things I have encountered at a hotel.

I was accused - repeatedly - of not paying the $20 for parking despite having a parking pass. I tried to stress that my question was whether or not I could park in my bungalow but they would not answer. This is something that should have taken 15 seconds; however it was 15 minutes of them accusing me of not paying for parking. I finally just said "forget it" and walked back to my room - as I was walking away, I believe they saw that I had paid and started to apologize. I had such a headache from trying to get very simple information from them at that point that I didn't want to engage further and just left my car at the much...