Mercure Budapest Korona Hotel — Hotel in Budapest

A typical large Mercure hotel, City Centre located. Great for access to the main tourist areas and restaurants and so is very busy We had a three night stay here while seeing old friends working in the city - the hotel was kindly booked and paid for by our friends so it’s maybe churlish to criticise.

Reception staff were efficient but rather shy - Henrietta and Florina were good and we were given our room 2 hours early!

It’s by no means a luxury hotel and our “preference” described rooms were rather small - actually smaller than many shown on the room map (see my photographs) and much smaller than they appear on the hotel’s advertising. Not to worry, although small, the room was clean and comfortable and most amenities were available both in the room and the similarly small bathroom. Luckily the bathroom had an actual bath, an increasing rarity these days but the bath was terribly slippery when you stand in it for a shower - we had to ask for a safety mat and that seemed very unusual to housekeeping staff who must be used to bathroom injuries! The shower, incidentally, is almost impossible to point in the right direction in its socket but you can hand-hold it - that’s easier

Sadly the towels were not particularly absorbent, unlike their bathrobes which were.

The in-room air-conditioning was strong and efficient, as was the wireless internet. There were plenty of power charge points, including USB, provided but the serious lack of drawer storage was a problem meaning we had to store a lot of clothing in our suitcases. The only storage provided was, effectively, a wardrobe.

Housekeeping was a bit hit and miss. Not bad work in the bedroom but the bathroom was hardly touched although towels were replaced.

First impressions were that carpeting throughout the hotel is very worn in places - time for a facelift, Mercure.

One little issue, one day we were returning to our 7th floor room only to find 4 young adults assembled and lying on the corridor floor just outside our bedroom door. They were deep in loud conversation but left after an hour or two so didn’t bother us too much - it was just an odd place to have a meeting. That maybe needs a security check from time to time, I think.

Re food - there are so many good restaurants nearby that we didn’t use the hotel dining facility except for breakfast. This was a normal hot and cold buffet in the walkway restaurant bridged over the road between hotel blocks A and B. No real problems here apart from keeping food warm. As is so common nowadays, there were no plate warmers meaning that hot food went cold on the plate very quickly. Staff here were super friendly as well.

Finally, would we stay here again? Definitely not in this type of small room for other than a one night stay. For a longer stay, two nights or more, we need a larger room for and we also need more storage/drawers than our room provided. Next time, maybe, I will book and pay for our room, rather than rely on others to...

I couldn't believe how easy it was to find the hotel after arriving at the airport and deciding to catch the 100E airport shuttle bus. It is the first stop on the route and a charge of approx £3 per person each way. The ride only took 30 minutes too.

The location of the hotel is quite central to all of the attractions. We have used the sightseeing buses to get around during the day as you learn a little bit of the history of the city whilst also finding your bearings. But we have had no issues walking back to the hotel in the evenings from wherever we have ended up.

When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted with a friendly smile and courteous staff. I have to say, the staff can't seem to do enough for you.

When we arrived at our room I was a little surprised at how dated it looked. Not only that, but during our 5 night stay here (we are on our 3rd night) I have noticed more and more signs of wear that has been caused over the years. There is a light socket that is falling out of the ceiling, a plug socket falling out of the wall, a wardrobe door that was loose and has fallen off onto my foot and also many many marks over all of the walls. The double room that I have booked has 2 metal framed single beds pushed together with 2 sets of single bedding. They don't stay together either.

Also the room could do with having a main light to brighten up the bedroom. A lamp in the corner and 2 reading lights aren't enough.

Unfortunately this hotel is not the standard I have come to expect from a Mercure hotel. I have stayed at many Mercure hotels and have never come across one of their hotels being allowed to be in this condition.

I have seen, however, that it is due a refurbishment this year, and judging by the banging and sawing coming from above our room from just after 8am I'm guessing that it may have already started. We are on the 7th floor. With it being New Year's Eve tomorrow my hope is that January 1st may actually be a quiet day.

On our first morning, after our 8:30 alarm, we decided to try the breakfast. The restaurant was very busy but we were able to find seats within a minute. The breakfast really is very nice. There's freshly made waffles, fruit, cereals, croissants, toast and much more. I really was impressed with how it is spread around the room with at least one coffee machine at each end of the spreads. There's no long queuing to get to your breakfast. The staff are so quick in cleaning up the tables and have it ready for the next person.

My summary is that in its current state the hotel is not worth the cost. It is, by far, the worst Mercure I have stayed in by the way of comfort and presentation. Once it is renovated I'm sure it will be up to the Mercure standard I have come to expect on my travels.

But I really do recommend Budapest as a city to visit, I'd just try another...

So many let downs - very disappointed with this hotel.

We booked 2 different type of rooms for 3 days. After the first night we were supposed to move rooms but got a free upgrade and stayed in the first room. This was a nice gesture. We were told we get the breakfast with the upgraded room and the receptionist told us to go to the 2nd floor. (We didn’t even know there are different floors for breakfasts). Sounded nice until we got rejected at the restaurant saying we have the basic breakfast included. We were sent from the second floor to the first. We wouldn’t have issue with this if this was what we were told in the first place by the receptionist upon checking in, instead of having the embarrassment at their restaurant on the second floor. The bathroom wasn’t fully equipped for our check-in either. The shower gel bottle was completely empty when we moved into the room and the hand soap and shampoo nearly empty as well. We called the housekeeping department to come and fill them up on our first morning. They never came. We had to call again and they said 5 mins. 30 min later we had to call the reception to urge them as we wanted to go out but we couldn’t start getting ready. It took 3 phone calls for them to arrive and rectify their mistake. No apology was given. Rather acting like they are doing you a favour by providing the stuff that they missed to provide for our arrival. After they provided the refills the shampoo was still not working and we couldn’t use it. She never checked the bottle before leaving. After we finally got the refills the cleaners on our floor wanted to clean our room and kept coming knocking, they really wanted us to be out while we were held by them not being able to get ready. They knocked 3 times within 2 hours and didn’t even hide their disappointment that we are keep saying we are not ready - which was their fault not providing the items for our arrival and having to literally beg for them on the first morning.

On the second day after the housekeeper made our room they left 1 towel for the 2 of us. We had to call the reception at 11PM to bring us a second one. On the last morning before checkout ( 12pm) the housekeeper knocked on our door at 9:45am asking: “check out?” - not sure what she wanted by it asking us to leave 2 hours before the checkout time?! But it is so wrong, they shouldn’t knock or bother guests until 12pm on their checkout morning. Something is really not right with that department, they are just keep bothering guests, not doing their job properly, sounds like they don’t have a manager to train them and they just do whatever they feel like.

The restaurant on the ground floor is excellent- from staff to food all great, and the hotel’s only positive attribute.

Very disappointed- I would expect better from a 4 star hotel. Needless to say I WOULD NOT...