Hôtel Mercure Strasbourg Centre — Hotel in Strasbourg

First, I must say that the staff here are extremely friendly and very kind, with the exception of the girls that were doing breakfast service (they were ok, but extremely aloof). So no need to improve the staff downstairs.

However, I will tell you a story. The Hotel Mercure was first presented to me in Nice France. What a decadent and lovely place just across from that horribly painful yet beautiful beach of stones. My experience of the hotel over the past 16 years has been one of good favor though I've only stayed in the Nice Mercure.

It has been 12 years since I was last in Strasbourg. I lived for a short time across from Place Des Halles at on Blvd Wilson. So naturally I wanted to stay at a place that was close to the heart of the city because I wanted to feel the magic. Not only that, but I wanted to share the magic of the city.

Upon entering the hotel we were greeted warmly. It was a very good image for the brand. When we got to our room, I smelled something funny, and my lady smelled it more clearly. It was the smell of urine. So we opened the window as we only had a matter of hours to spend there before driving the 5 hours back east.

The bathroom contained a 75% and a 50% used roll of toilet paper. The wall by the toilet had urine and fecal stains as well as some spots on the toilet. The cup next to the sink that was wrapped was completely disgusting and covered in some sort of goo gel like ooze. That was after unwrapping it. The bed comforter had a stain right in the middle between the two pillows. It was as if someone poured oils out from a sebaceous gland or worse.

We made mention of the room smelling like pee to the front desk girl and told her to go see for herself. When we got back the window was still open and it was slightly reduced. I cannot fault a front desk girl for the room being unclean, but at 164 euros my friend that works at the nearby hotel was astounded. The front desk girl was very kind and helped us find dinner though.

I have been a soldier, so I've slept in places that normal people wouldn't have thought of whether it was underneath a row of airplane seats, in a hole in the ground that I dug out, on washing machines, and even standing up. Yet, to come to a place that I loved so much and stay at a place that held the promise of all those years past, and come across a room that would have cost me a night of push-ups in the army (at a 4 day wage) was quite disappointing. I left feeling my spirit deflated and my experience of the once shimmering Strasbourg and the promise of a Hotel Mercure as empty.

I only mentioned the bigger things, but I cannot express enough how much the hotel needs to improve if it were to earn its stars. 4 stars for customer service. 1 star for the hotel itself. After this experience I will consider carefully before booking with a Mercure again. In fact, tomorrow my Delta Airlines pilot friend is coming to visit and when I saw Mercure I skipped over it for reservations. It is...

Disappointing Infrastructure Despite Friendly Staff

The front desk and breakfast staff were genuinely friendly and welcoming, which I truly appreciated. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives end.

The hotel’s infrastructure is severely outdated and, frankly, unacceptably dirty. The carpets throughout the hotel are heavily stained and give off a constant impression of grime — I felt uneasy walking barefoot on them. The room itself lacked basic cleanliness: the towels were of poor quality, the walls near the air conditioning unit were visibly dirty, and the bed appeared poorly made. I honestly suspect that housekeeping didn’t clean my room at all during the day.

Though the bed was advertised as a double, it was actually two single beds pushed together — and they weren’t even secured. During the night, the beds shifted apart, creating a gap in the middle that made it uncomfortable and even dangerous.

At breakfast, I noticed small insects crawling on the floor of the dining area — a very concerning sign of poor hygiene. To make matters worse, one of the chairs I sat on broke under me, losing a leg entirely. The lobby also had a very unpleasant odor, but what stood out the most was the pervasive dirt: stained carpets and discolored floors everywhere.

This hotel is in serious need of renovation and a complete overhaul of its cleaning standards. Until that happens, I cannot...

This is a nice, central hotel, about 5 minutes walk from the cathedral, and with shops and bars all around.

My friend and I had each booked a room here, we had a very friendly welcome on arrival, could check in around 2pm, and our rooms were spacious and large.

I found it strange that we were required to leave a 50-Euro deposit, but in the room, I'm not sure what you'd want to steal. In my room (310), they had provided a safe, kettle and an empty fridge (which was really useful), but even the cups are made of paper, and they provided a wooden stirring stick rather than a spoon.

The bathroom was modern, clean and beautiful, but once again, you get paper cups rather than glasses. It's ironic that the hotel boasts about not using plastics, but then provides four paper cups, rather than regular cups/glasses.

The blackout curtains were really good. At night, the room was really quiet, which is impressive, given our location.

Some reviewers have mentioned the dirty carpets in the room. Well, they have certainly seen better days, and are really faded in places, but honestly, they're clean, didn't smell, and I didn't mind it. To have a central hotel, with air conditioning, costing less than 100-Euros per night (without breakfast), I expected worse.

We didn't have breakfast (we thought it was too expensive) and there are amazing coffee shops and...