Mercure Roma Centro Termini : disappointing

This is a recent Accor hotel addition in Rome. It is located very close to the former MGallery La Griffe, about 20 min walk from termini station. As you all know, There is nothing really exciting with Accor in Rome, unless you want to spend a fortune at the Sofitel. I was tempted to try the Mamma Shelter but it was quite pricey too and the location is not so attractive. I decided to go with this new Mercure address, thinking that being new it would be better than others and this despite very mixed reviews. For the reviews that you can read on the hotel webpage or on Trip Advisor, the bad comments are about room small size, very dark and noisy. Every time, the response of the hotel to those comments is that they are constrained by the building they are in. Indeed, the hotel is located in a small old and very nice building (picture below) and there are for sure some constraints. But you wonder if making a hotel here was a good choice knowing the constraints. You can see on the floor map that there are very few rooms per floor.

Arriving by taxi from FCO, your 1st surprise is that you enter in the restaurant that was closed and semi-dark (it was around 23:00) and the front desk is on the other side of the building and you don’t see it at all from outside or when you enter the building.

Checkin was quick, no special status recognition. I booked a Superior/Queen and got that (no upgrade, but i think they gave me the “best possible room”). It was #601 (see at top of floor plan above). Rate was 170€/night and I stayed 3 nights.

Entering the room led to the 1st surprise : immediately entering the room, the shower was on the left directly in the bedroom. First time I was seeing this.

The bathroom was on the other side of the room, and was very small.

When you want to take your shower (in the bedroom…), there is nothing to hang a towel. OK, I understand they are constrained with the building but this design is really ridiculous. The bedroom part was OK as you can see on the picture. Not a huge space, but enough for a small suitcase.

This room was likely better than others because had a lot of natural light and a balcony offering a decent view. Soundproofing was not great but sufficient.

Breakfast buffet was limited and it was taking forever to have your coffee. I had lunch once there and food was good.

The restaurant is closed for dinner, but that’s not a problem in Rome ! Drink voucher can be redeemed at the "bar"/restaurant but, as it is not attended, you need to ask the front desk.

I asked for late check-out but they could grant me only 1 pm so did not take it and left my bags there. Overall, even if nothing was terribly wrong during this stay, I was not wowed at all with the very weird room design. Accor is still missing with a decent mid-scale address downtown Rome unfortunately.