Great refurbished hotel with great welcome

Check In

I arrived early and the room was not yet ready.  The staff were welcoming and handed me my welcome drink voucher and sat me at the bar and service was excellent.

Room

I booked a Cosy (small classic) room and was upgraded to an Executive double.

The room was slightly small and came with Nespresso and free water.  Excellent power connectivity with USB and Power by the bed and by TV.  Modern TV and bathroom with rainfall shower.

Dining

I had breakfast at the hotel and this was in a small downstairs/basement room a bit cramped but good food and not too pricey.

Service

Throughout my whole stay so far the service has been A*.

Welcoming friendly and what I hope they continue to offer (they only opened on Monday)

Overall

Great new Mercure in a good location.  Platinum member recognition was appreciated and the hotel is very modern after its refurb.

I booked 6 nights at this property as I wanted to make use of Heathrow Express on my last day of my trip as I knew my luggage will be heavy after some shopping. After doing some research on FlyerTalk, I decided to give Mercure Hyde Park a go as it was located near Paddington Station.

The rooms looked gorgeous on picture although the basic rooms looked really small. Thus, I booked a Superior King room (above the basic and standard rooms) direct at the hotel website as the rates was significantly cheaper than Accor's rates. When I enquired whether points (rewards and status) will  accorded after check out, the hotel took about 2 days to reply. The answer was affirmative.

Location

Located a mere 3 minutes walk from Paddington Underground Station and Heathrow Express, Mercure London Hyde Park is an old Victorian style building converted to a hotel at Talbot Square.

The hotel is located beside Hotel Indigo and can be accessible by it's restaurant. However, if you are checking in, do go by the long way via Talbot Square.

Check In

I left my previous hotel and checked in at 12.30pm. Unfortunately, the room that I booked was not ready. Since I was not in a rush, I waited at the lobby. The lobby was very comfortable. During the evening, there is a nice fireplace that exuded warmth on rainy nights. Perfect place for a drink.

The room was ready at about 1.30pm. Upon check in, the next best room (which is a suite) was not available on the same day. Obviously, I asked if I could move the suite the following day - the answer was okay. All I had to do was to pack and leave my luggage downstairs and the team will bring it up to the suite. I agreed! Sadly, welcome drinks was also not proactively given and I had to request.

Room

The first room (Room 312) was disappointing. Although I booked a superior king room, I was given a smaller room than what was advertised.  https://www.mercurehydepark.com/rooms/superior-king-room/

There was no space to include a bench and a sofa at all as on hotel pictures. I suspected they gave me a standard king room instead. I thought to myself, since they were upgrading me to a suite. I would just tolerate the room and move to a bigger room the following day.

The following morning, the stay got worse. Front desk told me it is not the hotel policy to upgrade Platinum members for so many nights (6) as instructed by the manager. I had to pay 30 pounds per night for an upgrade! This was after packing 2 luggages and dragging them down (they claimed they couldn't get me the previous night)

I called for the GM. She explained that it is not typical of the hotel to upgrade for so many nights. I argued that the LCAH terms and conditions didn't say so, she also mentioned that it was up to hotel policy! Front Office Manager also shared that the suite was booked. Suspecting some foul play, I checked the reservation system on the website and found that the suite is available for the next 6 nights. They claimed to have a system glitch.

After threatening to post negative feedback on FT and TA for poor loyalty recognition and false advertising, she relented and upgraded me to the suite. They also said sizes of superior king room are different and will ask Marketing to look into the pictures. 1 week has passed but no changes done.

Obviously I came for an holiday, not to beg for upgrades.

The suite was beautiful. I will not recommend anything lesser than that if you have 2 pax. I will let the pictures describe it. By the way, all rooms came with a Handy phone and the suites came with upgraded toiletries -  away from the usual Mercure branded ones. Do note for smaller rooms, the notification lights (DND and Cleaning) can be very bright and it disturbed my sleep at night. Do also ask for views facing Talbot Square, else you will be facing a wall.

Dining

Breakfast was located in the basement of the hotel. The spread was the typical English breakfast. No variation of the breakfast was observed. Staff at the restaurant was very friendly though.

Overall

This stay left a bittersweet feeling at this nice hotel. While the hardware (suite) was great, the soft product fell flat. Even though the GM wrote me an apology note along with the welcome gift (4 pieces of tarts), it was too little too late.

A good stay was ruined by a stingy and lustre front desk manager and GM coupled with false advertising. It seems that the check in staff were not empowered as much as they have to. As I had avoided the front desk (very awkward after complaining), I would also advise the community to avoid this hotel at all cost if you are looking for great LCAH recognition.