Mercure Sydney — Hotel in Sydney

I booked 3 rooms for 4 nights with my family, and unfortunately, what should have been a pleasant stay turned into a very frustrating experience.

At check-in, my credit card was charged twice. My bank called me on the spot, and only after clarification did the hotel admit their mistake, cancel the duplicate charge, and recharge correctly. I specifically requested a credit card slip for proof of payment, but the hotel informed me they do not provide such receipts, which was already concerning.

The next day, while I was out sightseeing, the hotel sent me two emails—first claiming the payment was unsuccessful, and then demanding an “outstanding amount” of AUD 380+. My total bill was AUD 4.3K, so I doubted the accuracy of these emails and even suspected they might be scams. I only noticed them late in the afternoon on the third day, and I planned to clarify in person at the reception upon returning.

That evening, when my brother returned to the hotel, he discovered our room cards had been deactivated. We were told we had to settle the bill before access could be restored. I was still having dinner in town when my brother was forced to make another payment at the counter. Later, I spoke with staff (first Daisy, then a manager on duty named K). Unfortunately, K immediately told me that three of my cards had been declined and justified her decision to suspend our room access. Her tone was accusatory, as though I had intentionally avoided payment, which I found extremely rude and unprofessional.

This entire situation stemmed from the hotel’s own double-charge error, and yet I was treated as if I was unwilling to pay. No phone call was ever made to clarify the issue—just two misleading emails—and instead of assisting me directly, the hotel chose to lock us out of our rooms. I truly believe there were better options to reach me at that time and resolve the matter, rather than immediately suspending my room access.

The next day, I expressed my dissatisfaction to Darren, who kindly offered us complimentary breakfast before check-out. While I appreciated this gesture, it did not erase the poor and unprofessional way my case was handled.

I must add that the rest of the reception and concierge staff were helpful and provided good service throughout our stay. However, it is unfortunate that one rude staff member’s actions ruined the entire experience. In the end, I only remember how badly I was treated, while the good service earlier is overshadowed and barely memorable.

As a guest of a 4-star business hotel, I expected much better service and respect. I hope no other customer will experience such treatment again. Please ensure your payment systems provide proper receipts, and that your staff are trained to handle such issues with professionalism and courtesy. This experience has left me deeply...

Our company booked a room for me for 6 nights. We chose the Mercure for it's close proximity to our office, and because the business owner is an Accor member. As I was staying for 6 nights she wanted somewhere that would be close and comfortable.

The first room I was put in on Level 12 was right by the lifts, and very noisy. Children were running through the hallways at 10pm each night, and the noise of water running through the pipes in the wall was disturbing all through the night.

I spoke to reception after the 2nd sleepless night and was told there was a room available on Level 5, that it was a quiet room, and was actually an upgrade. I moved down to Level 5, only to find that the room was closer to the lifts, and was smaller than the first. Thankfully there was no plumbing noise, and no children running amuck.

Moving into this room, I immediately tried to make a coffee (as there was no milk in the first room, but this room had milk) however the kettle kept tripping the power each time I turned it on. So I had to request a new kettle.

The first night sleeping in the new room was quiet enough, however at 4am the coloured LED lights came on by themselves. I got up and turned them off.

The 2nd night in this room I had the same problem with the lights coming on by themselves at 4am. I was unable to find any kind of timer. I spoke to reception later that day when I returned from work, and they sent the Concierge up to take a look. He also couldn't find any timers or switches, but he reset the power and said that should fix it.

Unfortunately at 4am the lights came on again, so I called down to reception to report it, and they advised they would send maintenance up at approx 8am.

Before maintenance arrived I managed to find the multiple switches for these 'disco lights' and was able to turn them off using one of the master switches. It is to be noted that there are multiple master switches so when you think you have turned them off at one switch, there could be another switch that also needs to be turned off.

After 5 sleepless nights, I was finally able to get a restful sleep on my last night.

Additionally, we need to contact someone within the rewards program, as the booking was made and paid for by the company owner on her Accor account, but she was not awarded the points. When I asked at reception I was advised that she would not receive the points as she did not stay in the hotel. We will be taking this further.

All in all, we were extremely disappointed in the hotel. Previously we stayed at the Sheraton Four Points, but wanted to use your hotel as we are members of Accor. But we will not be returning the the...

Your staff at front of house gave absolutely bad service and not trained well with the safety. On 28 December around 5-6pm the fire alarm rang, I had to walk down to ground floor and let your staff by the counter know that on 12 floor fire alarm is on. I didn't received any response back from her (lady with white dress) at all. Instead she was running around and never giving me the answer. Then I saw another guest talking to the other male staff (tall black curly South Asian guy) about this situation. Instead he should apologise but he just try to say the alarm is faulty and to go back to the room. I felt this was not right so I asked him even though its not right, don't you think we should treat it as a real fire if this actually happened we can evaluate on time. The answer he was giving me with his own attitude was that he was not treating this as a real fire. Absolutely horrible answer and they still let people onto the lift! However out of horrible team only one staff that absolutely nice and very good customer service is name Pablo that work in concierge, he listened well and apologised and was calling his manager to help us out and not running away like other staff and facing problems. He was absolutely helpful! However, he try calling Chris (Manager) to come see me but Chris never shows up. The faulty alarm was ringing for so long. Before I left the hotel around 7-8 pm, I was talking to one of the ladies who was Asian at the counter who was wearing a white dress without a name tag that night, I have asked her again to talk to her manager as it was so ridiculous that every minute the alarm rang and instead of listening, she was try to argue and give me a very bad attitude. She was like " I wish I could know the answer but I dont....." is this sentence is right? I recommend you should have trained your staff about the safety as I dont think any of them know how to keep themselves and guests safe. I choose to stay in your hotel because of the reputation, location, safety and service. But I don't think I have received very good experience with this hotel at this time. There are also small things that I can not pay attention on with as the lift has problems and are very slow, the cleaner doesn't clean my room properly sometimes forgetting bath mat or not vacuuming the floor or putting the bin in front of the room and not put them back in place. I have been staying with Mercury in different countries but I have never received...