Mercure Tunbridge Wells Hotel — Hotel in Tunbridge Wells

We usually like the Mercure brand but this was the worst one we've stayed at, by far. When we got to the hotel we had to wait for 5-10 minutes for someone to check us in. The guests behind us literally had time to brew a coffee in the reception before we were served.

From the outside, the building was gorgeous. Inside was a different story. The rooms were very tired and out of date. Our room didn't have plugs near the bed, which in 2024 seems crazy. TV was good which is better than some hotels.

The room was clean enough. But the grout in the bathroom was dirty with black mould. When we got to the room, the sink was full of water as the sink plug was in and the tap was dripping. The tap fitting itself was loose and needs fixing.

We were then met by the scraping noise that went on for about 2 minutes. We're not sure what this was, but it was coming from behind the shower. Luckily it stopped and didn't become more of a problem. But still, bit weird.

We had dinner and breakfast included. This is the weirdest hotel restaurant I've ever been to. Most restaurants, you'll have one or two waiting staff looking after your table. We had 5 different people coming over to our table at different times. A lot of the time asking us the same questions. Almost like they were looking for things to do as it wasn't busy yet.

We ordered, received our food and the restaurant filled up. At no point after it got busy were we asked how our meal was. If they had checked, we would've told them that my partner's meal (Warm Asian Salad) had a lot of chilli and that she wasn't enjoying it.

The dish had roughly 3 to 4 whole fresh chillis chopped on top of the meal, plus more chilli cooked into the sauce. There was no indication on the menu about the dish having chillis or being spicy. There was also chickpeas and other ingredients that were not listed on the menu description for this meal.

I got the chicken wings. They are £7.50. you get 3 Chicken Wings that are mainly the breaded coating, and poor quality chicken. They're not even that big.

When they came to take our plates, they asked how the food was and my partner told the waitress she didn't like how spicy her meal was. They were not interested. I also wasn't given a copy of the receipt to review before paying, I was only given a glance. So I have no idea if I paid a service charge or not. To be fair, I wouldn't have removed it anyway as they were friendly. It just would've been nice to know. I should have asked for the receipt to be fair. But I feel like these are restaurant basics that this one just doesn't do right.

The sleep was okay. The room above us came in just as we were about to sleep and the foot steps were very loud. Again, old hotel. When we woke up the next morning, the toilet stopped working. As we were leaving it wasn't a massive problem, but not great.

When we were leaving, unfortunately a guest was making a scene at the desk so we weren't able to leave our feedback in person, which isn't the hotels fault.

I have since seen the reviews on here with a lot of the same complaints, and the hotel replying saying they'll take the feedback on board. Sadly it doesn't seem like they are.

We got this hotel as part of a Virgin Experience, and I feel like they may be relying on that too much. I don't go to hotels to find things that are wrong. I just want an unremarkable experience and unfortunately this hotel provides a remarkable experience, for the...

Visit on 28.07.25 - Dayroom, booked through Daybreak.

We arrived at 8.55am to book into our room at 09.00 hours. A lady from the office came into reception barked at the receptionist " you can't put them in the lake?? room, the shower leaks, you'll have to put them somewhere else". Not once addressing us, very rude!

Receptionist eventually located a room for us, sent us on our way. If you're less able bodied, this may not be the place for you. Both of us are disabled, I left my rollator in the car as we had quite a close car parking space. Good job, otherwise I would have had to lug them up the very steep stairs to our room. Husband (recent back operation) was using his walking stick - no help was offered. There's not a lift.

We trundled along towards our room, along a very strong bleachy smelling corridoor, with door wide open and chemicals clearly on display. COSHH clearly not an issue here.

The room was pretty grim to be fair. I was going to be doing writing while my Husband would relax in a chair in a different environment just for 8 hours. Our first relaxing break in 18 years.

Only, it wasn't to be, the room was dusty, kettle covered in dust, windows barely opened, no wardrobe doors, dull and very unacceptable for the £110 we had just paid, not even a chair for my Husband to sit in.

We were so deflated. Back to reception we trundled.

Is that the best room available? Seemed it was, they had a party of international visitors in who had taken 50+ rooms, nothing else available till after they vacate at 11.00.

We asked for a refund, receptionist apologised, was really lovely, but at this point things went wrong.

Instead of refunding us, it turns out she had charged us again. This wasn't noticed until later that morning. Thankfully I had asked for a receipt, it wasn't offered freely, receptionist initialled and dated "refund".

I tried to be cheerful, but was so upset. We got to the car then rang the Mercure Great Danes, thankfully lovely Nina there helped us with a really lovely bright room for our day break.

Turns out upon later inspection of my bank app, we'd been charged twice by Tunbridge Wells. £220 down now. I phoned, receptionist, she said she would check, yup, charged twice, will correct right away and email over.

It didn't happen that day. I emailed again at 18.23 28.07.25.

Received phone call 29.07.25 at 10.46. Yes I had been charged twice, will refund straight away and email over. Apologised, didn't know how it had happened.

Stay with me, it gets better.

An email fluttered in at 11.48 29.07.25 confirming my booking for that very day at the Tunbridge Wells Mercure and that they were looking forward to welcoming me. I hadn't booked and would not book there again.

Emailed them yet again 12.34 29.07.25. Asking if this was another error from their system or have I been charged yet again? Please confirm that a refund has at last been done and that this booking is a mistake.

I contacted our bank, they can't do anything until 15 days after the transaction.

30.07.25 I received an email confirming a refund of £220 was done yesterday, allow 7-10 days before it will show in your bank. Sorry for the errors that occurred.

This was very poor treatment indeed, from the rude office dweller, receptionist was lovely and polite, but the errors just kept on coming.

I can't unfortunately say anything positive, as I'm sure if anyone else was in our position they would feel...

We stayed overnight as part of a dinner, bed and breakfast package and tickets for the Spa Valley Railway from Virgin Experiences- it was a gift for our birthdays.

Firstly the good points, the staff here are amazing! All friendly and helpful, from the lovely lady on check in, the lady in the bar, the two ladies at breakfast who had to fix the coffee machine for me and Athul who was our very enthusiastic waiter at dinner.

Dinner and breakfast were good, not a huge choice at dinner but all tasty.

Car parking was free with a very large car park.

Sadly the negatives are more in number. The location is not near the centre of Tunbridge Wells and not really walkable to the railway, you need a car really. It is however quite quiet. It's definitely not a 4* hotel.

It is a huge shame they have closed their swimming pool, which we could see was empty through the windows, it would have been great to have had use of the leisure facilities.

We were offered an upgrade on our booked room before we arrived, from Classic (the standard) to either Privilege or Superior. We chose Superior for about £34 extra and when we arrived it was confirmed we had been allocated this upgrade. Now, on the website, the Superior room is billed as " Our Superior Hotel Room in Tunbridge Wells is our most magnificent yet. With your very own suite with plush furniture and many added luxuries, this is a beautiful choice for special occasions like honeymoons, anniversaries or weddings." So we were really looking forward to the luxury. To say we were disappointed is an understatement. It was a large room, with a seperate lounge area and bathroom on the ground floor. The decor is sad and sort of a nicotine colour, the furniture seemed just a dumping ground for the hotel's mismatched leftovers. To be fair the rather small double bed was very comfortable, but why wasn't it a king or superking in such a large room? There was only one bedside lamp that did not work on the left side of the bed, but did when plugged in on the right side, but when we turned off the main bedroom light the lamp went off also! So we couldn't sit and read in bed without the bright main light on. No plus by the bed or USB ports for charging phones. There is no air conditioning and it was a hot day, I did ask at Reception if they had any cooler rooms but they suggested we open the windows! There was no fridge, just an old table with a kettle and coffee machine in the lounge but only tiny espresso cups. We are tea drinkers so not ideal! There was no water either or some of the other possible expected items for a 'luxury' room such as hot chocolate or biscuits. The bathroom was miniscule, too small to even photograph! Single sink, toilet and shower over the bath, all a bit drab. The laminate floors were impossibly squeaky walking on them, I'm sorry if we woke anyone else, we were trying to tiptoe around!

I think the rooms need a proper refurb and if the pool could be reopened it may be again a nice hotel, it looks to be a dying one currently which is great shame for the...