Review Hotel Mercure Bordeaux Centre-Ville (Mériadeck)

Another domestic post-unlocking stay. I originally booked at another Mercure downtown Bordeaux (Mercure Bordeaux Cité Mondiale Centre Ville), but one week after booking, they wrote me to say that they cancel my reservation because they postponed their reopening and that, if I needed to book another hotel, I can visit Accorhotels website !! I was quite astonished by this email and it shows how poor some Accor hotels value loyalty. For a top tier member, any other hotel chain would have say “we apologize for this situation, we have booked another downtown equivalent hotel for you at the same rate. If this booking does not satisfy your needs, please contact us”. But nothing like that ! I could have returned to the Pullman where I already stayed before, but it's not in the city center, so I booked another Mercure downtown.

I need to detail the location of this hotel because it can represent a disappointment. For those of you who have never been to Bordeaux, it is truly a beautiful and very chic city (see a few pictures at the end of the review). This Mercure is really in the city center (they are not lying), but it is not in the historical part, but just a few minutes walking in an area called Mériadeck, name of a shopping mall facing the hotel. This small disctrict has been built in the early 70’s I believe and, whatever the city in France, all neighborhood we have built during that period have become super ugly and are aging very badly. To come back to Mériadeck, this is indeed a very ugly neighborhood, totally deserted at night. Not unsafe at all but because it is deserted at night and its very cold feeling, you can feel unsafe. You can better realize what I mean with the picture below taken from my room in the morning. But the hotel is at 10 min walking from the cathedral so the location is not bad. There is also a tramway stop not far.

I arrived late (11 pm), check-in was done promptly. I was clearly expected with some welcome notes of the guests relations manager (Clémence T.) and some free entries to the Cité du Vin. Drink voucher was not given spontaneously, but was given upon request.

I booked a superior room, double bed and was upgraded to Privilege (there is no upper category).

The lobby :

Not much to say about the room. Classical amenities with the Privilege room : bathrobe, slippers, Nespresso machines, Bluetooth speaker, minibar with free content (water & soft drinks). Large bathroom

The breakfast room was pleasant with plenty of sunlight. The covid measures were well adapted in my opinion : no more buffet but all buffet items are still available and the staff is serving you. Only coffee is self-service.

The bar and restaurant of the hotel. Note that there was no problem to have 2 drinks with one drink voucher for a room double occupancy.

Overall a good stay with a guest relations manager who takes good care of status guests. There is certainly no WOW effect with this Mercure. There are some better ones but also some worse ones. It makes the job for a short stay and the staff is nice. Location is so-so but convenient as explained before.