Mercure Wellington Abel Tasman — Hotel in North Island

☑️Positive points: Friendly staff. Convenient location.

☑️Negative points: In Room 711, the shower temperature cannot be adjusted properly — it’s either extremely hot or very cold. The Wi-Fi was difficult to access. It required an access code, but no code or instructions were provided at check-in.

☑️Additional Feedback: I made two consecutive non-refundable, non-cancellable bookings (for October 22 and October 23–25).

Due to the wildfires in Kaikoura on October 22, we were blocked from traveling to Picton to catch the ferry to Wellington. The situation worsened as the Cook Strait ferry was canceled on October 23 due to strong winds. These were clearly force majeure circumstances, and as a result, I was unable to stay at your hotel on October 22 and 23 — only on the night of October 24.

I notified the hotel immediately after each change in schedule, yet the staff repeatedly claimed they “didn’t receive” my updated emails.

What’s worse, when I mentioned several times that I had two bookings, the Manager who spoke with me on the morning of October 25 questioned me in a rather dismissive tone, saying: “You keep saying you have two bookings, but I only see one.” This clearly showed her carelessness and lack of attention in handling guest information. Only after I insisted that she check my email, where I had listed both booking numbers, did she finally admit that I indeed had two consecutive bookings.

As a Platinum member, even with non-refundable bookings, I’ve always experienced flexible and considerate handling from other Accor hotels in genuine force majeure situations - such as flight cancellations or COVID disruptions. Hotels like Novotel Premium Da Nang (Vietnam), Mgallery Phu Quoc (Vietnam), and Ibis Umeda (Japan) have all allowed me to reschedule my stay as a goodwill gesture to loyal Platinum members.

That flexibility and professionalism are exactly why I’ve remained loyal to the Accor group.

However, at Mercure Abel Tasman Hotel, when I asked if I could reschedule my October 22 booking to October 27 (which I had already emailed about on the day we were stuck in Kaikoura), the Manager coldly replied that since my booking was non-refundable, “there’s nothing she could do" and insisted on following the policy without exception.

Frankly, if other Accor managers in the hospitality industry reacted the same way - relying solely on “policy” even in proven force majeure cases - how many loyal customers do you think you’d be able to retain? And how much would that approach really contribute to Accor’s long-term reputation for loyalty and...

So I don't write reviews like this lightly I worked in Hotels for 10 years in three different countries.

But this stay was Horrible we checked in got given wrong directions and room keys and disturbed someone else in their room. Sorry Room 508 but think you for not being grumpy at us when we disturbed you.

The room I booked was a Queen traveling with my partner for my 40th Birthday. We got given a Deluxe double...not ideal but top floor, good view, larger room. So we made do with the smaller bed. Then on Halloween something Foul was a foot we heard bubbling from the bathroom and discovered a Biohazard in our shower....excrement bubbled up and the smell started to fill the room beyond the bathroom.

We decided it was time to evacuate before our Breakfasts evacuated and made the issue worse. We reported the issue to Front desk and left to explore Wellington.

We didnt return till after 5pm to find that while to excrement had drained away the smell and clearly little poopy bits remained. I was blown away never in all the Hotels I have worked in have I seen anything like it.

No Hotel I have ever worked in would let this happen. We would move the guest immediately we would comp Breakfast, Management would personally go and talk to the Guest and make sure they are OK and don't have to write a review like this.

Only after getting upset with the front desk we were moved from the Biohazard room to a different room with a King bed (not a upgrade front desk only had King rooms vacant) we packed up and moved ourselves.

We Stayed in that room for the remainder of our stay. I expected Management might reach out check in with us but nothing so here we are.

Accor Group you should look into this property your spending cash to make the place look better, but you don't have the skilled management staff to look after this investment you could say your flushing money away and this time its not going to bubble up...

We three arrived at the hotel around 13:50, room was not ready and we were totally understanding as check-in time is 14:00. However the staff checking us in annoyingly informed because we put request for 3 single beds on the booking so it delayed the HSK team getting the room ready. My friend politely asked if that troubled the team too much we are happy to take the original room, cuz we just needed a room to rest. The staff just rolled her eyes at us.

Firstly, our request was there when we made the booking, meaning 3 weeks before the arrival date. if Reservations team have done the arrival check properly, this request would not be missed. And even if this request is missed, it is NOT OUR PROBLEM and the hotel IS RESPONSIBLE to get our room ready at 14:00 regardless.

Secondly, all of us work in hotel so we understand the check-in procedure, the busy movement at 14:00 so we are happy to take the orignal room to create less hassle for the team, NOT TO TAKE THAT RUDENESS & DISRESPECT MANNER from the reception. We paid to stay, we didn't beg for our stay. we don't ask for VIP welcome service, we only ask for a standard friendly bare-minimum service,which your hotel failed to provide. If you have a bad day, call sick. Do not come to work and roll your eyes at me.

I don't seek for any compensation as I won't come back to NZ anytime soon, just hopefully the management can address and correct this within your front of house team. Thank you &...