nickw_au

I'd agree - I've always perceived Novotel above Mercure in the pecking order - the Accor brands website has the ordering Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure. It says Mercures are "locally inspired" whereas Novotels are "Time well spent"

My take on the brand perceptions is that Novotel had a more business imagery associated with it, Mercure seemed to have a softer touch in the marketing and not so business orientated. Although looking at Accor's own brand fact sheets Mercure actually has a higher percentage of business guests than Novotel (although, this is probably based on that question when direct booking?) https://group.accor.com/en/hotel-development

Personally, with so many brands in the stable now Mercure is the one that speaks least to me, despite regularly staying at them. Wouldn't miss it if it vanished, it has been a dumping ground for average properties for far too long.