Mercure Lisboa Hotel — Hotel in Lisbon

TERRIBLE FRONT DESK, TERRIBLE MANAGEMENT, & DOESNT UNDERSTAND THE FIRST THING ABOUT HOSPITALITY BUSINESS.... Read on for details from an experienced traveler.

I have stayed at over 500 hotel rooms in every continent of the world except Antarctica and this property ranks dead last out of every single hotel I’ve stayed at regardless of star rating. The fact that this property is a 4 star is a big fat joke, read on. We stayed in an airbnb on Baixa for a few days and for our last day we wanted to visit the zoo with our kids before we head to the airport to catch our 8pm flight back to the US. Because we have a 1 year old we wanted to book a day room to store our bags and also have a clean place to change our babies diapers and use the bathroom before heading on to the airport after the zoo. We found a day room at the Mercure Lisboa online and booked it. When we arrived we were met with a rude front desk agent that before she greeted us she asked “how many people!” I explained we are four people but the room is just to store our bags and for my wife to change the babies diapers and maybe if my baby wanted to nap for 20 mins or so before we go to the airport. I explained that we will not be in the room longer than 20 mins. She replied “no, you have four people” I explained again that myself and my son don’t have to be in the room, we just needed a place to store our bags while we go to the zoo hence why we booked the day room. She went to the back to speak to a front desk manager and came back and said “you can’t go to the room, only your wife and baby” so I told her that’s fine, we didn’t intend to go to the room anyway but I needed to help my wife take the luggage up to the room because we had 3 large bags, 2 carryons and 1 child car seat but the lady refused. I asked if someone can help my wife instead and she refused. She said that my wife would have to take all the luggage up by herself along with the baby. I asked for the manager and when the manager came out she was an even more agitated person that reaffirmed that I wouldn’t be allowed to help my wife with the luggage and wanted me to book a second room just so I can help my wife with the bags. The level of unreasonableness was astounding as I even offered for someone to come up with us and escort me back down to make sure I don’t stay in the room. Keep in mind this so called 4 star property doesn’t have any bellman to assist with bags. I thought about just booking the extra room not to have to deal with the hassle of having the bags but I definitely did not want to give a penny to this property that obviously doesn’t understand the first thing about hospitality. So I walked over to the Ibis a block down and explained the situation and they were happy to accommodate us. We placed our bags in the ibis, went to the zoo, came back to the hotel were my 4 year old son and had a snack while my wife changes diapers used the bathroom and we were off to the airport.

Mercure Lisboa not only missed out on additional revenue ($140) for storing bags for a few hours, but definitely left a huge bad taste in my mouth for Mercure properties. This management seems to just be looking to make problems and assumes the worst in guests rather than...

Draft version to be updated - From 24/08/2012 to 31/08/2012 - Rooms 505 & 506 (wrongly oriented as the other side has a much better view and less cars passing by, too bad for us despite being ACCOR clients for more than 30 years now, maybe this is not enough?) - Hotel opened in March 2002

Rooms: We asked for 2 adjoining superior double bed rooms, we had 2 non adjoining rooms (there is no adjoining rooms on 5th floor - the only floor with superior rooms), one with single bed, one with double bed. Only twin bed remaining available on the floor was 513 but the door could not open so that we had to stay in 506.

Reception desk: Extremely useful and multi lingual. Always polite with a smile, truly excellent.

Location: Located exactly on the axis of Lisbon airport runway, there are two possibilities: landing direction which is fine as much more silent than the other possibility e.g. take off which is extremely noisy - You won't miss anything from the swimming pool.

Transports: Close to Jardim Zoologico metro station however you won't see anything from the city under the ground + frequency of metro is really low i.e. every 7mn to 10mn downtown Lisboa, this is real joke. Shorter 1 part metro during evening or weekend. Several bus lines around most useful being 701 (Campo Ourique) and 758 (Cais Sodre). Be sure to print the bus map before your stay as it's not available from CARRIS or any tourist information (reason being yellow buses, read below). One day ticket at 5€ or monthly ticket but nothing in between, nothing for families thus transport can be even more expensive than in northern Europe, not good for tourists. Yellow buses tour starts at 19€ per day but this is a real scam and are also run by CARRIS. Yellow tour by tram is 18€ when regular line 28 is 1.25€, enough said? Note that the basic ticket was 0.80€ in May 2011 and went up to 1.25€ in May 2012. Crisis can have some weird impact on the local population. To go to tram 28, take bus 701 to Campo Ourique (final stop) and change for tram 28. This is MUCH better than going to Martim Moniz which is much more crowded. Try to grab a single seat on the right and do not lean out the window as this can be very dangerous.

Small swimming pool (no heating system so rather cold) on 9th floor open from 9:00am to 9:00pm.

Breakfast served from 06:30 to 11:30 (07:00 to 12:00 during weekends) is truly excellent with great service. freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh pastry (croissants, palmiers, benoitons au chocolat, mini nutella bagels), selection of bread, excellent scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, saucisson, cold or hot milk, selection of tea, etc.), cereals. Excellent quality/price ratio (10.50€/person). Too bad that we had some shortage some days (no more eggs, bacon, croissants, benoitons au chocolat).

Conclusion: Location is not so good, quality/price ratio, including breakfast, is favorable and people are very nice, polite...

I was put in this hotel by my insurance company following braking my leg and having a surgery in Lisbon. I was in bed most of the time and in a quite a bit of pain. On our last day our return flight was at 10pm and the insurance informed us that our room was booked for the next night to accommodate our late check out. At 4pm that day a hotel manager rang our room and informed us that we must vacate the room immediately as it was not paid for for that night. We explained our situation in detail and informed that a nurse was coming out to me at 5pm to change my bandages and do an injection. We asked for time to clear things up with insurance but the management did not even attempt to understand and help. Instead we were told in an aggressive way over and over that we were to vacate the room immediately as the hotel was fully booked out and we could not stay in the room any longer. As we tried to contact the insurance to clarify what had happened 2 managers started banging at our door telling us to get out. I was in bed crying at this stage and extremely stressed out and weak. That day I had fainted in the corridor, which the management were aware of and didn't forget to charge us for a bottle of water provided to me after the fainting episode...My partner kept explaining in a calm, cultural way that we only needed extra 2 hours in the room to get ready for the flight and have a nurse see me. All previous nights were fully paid for so there should have been no concern that we would not pay. We were told there was no such option as the next guests would be arriving shortly. Managers kept coming to our door and after 20 mins came up with a credit card terminal. As we couldn't get a result from the insurance I asked if they would allow us to stay the, at that stage, 1.5 hour if we paid for the night ourselves. In spite of being aggressively told we could not stay another minute in the room this suddenly seemed to be a satisfying option. Once I paid for the night it was possible to stay the extra time (1,5 h), which shows that it was possible all along. All we were asking for was a little more time in the room that afternoon. It appeared that the insurance had arranged for a 4pm check out with the hotel but as this was not satisfactory they undertook to pay for the night. All we were asking for from the management was to allow time for the insurance to contact them and pay. We assured them that they would be paid but were told it did not matter as the hotel was booked out and we must leave immediately. When we did pay though ourselves, we suddenly could stay the extra time. The staff was aggressive, lacking understanding, talking over us and not allowing us to explain our situation, unprofessional and as it turned out, all about money. Would never stay there...