Years ago we stayed one night at this hotel. I remember the waiter verbally abusing customers and insulting them in French in the breakfast room.
2010...Not much has changed. This has to be the rudest and most unprofessional staff I have ever encountered. For work reasons I travel a lot so I have stayed in countless hotels around the world. I found it hard to believe I was in France, normally people are very polite and professional. A number of staff in this hotel seemed in need of psychiatric help, they cannot help being unnecessarily offensive.
VERY BAD HOTEL POLICY INDEED, they seem to forget that word of mouth can go far.
I guess I have been two times unlucky but here goes...
I arrived at 1 am 3 weeks ago and left at 1 am 3 nights later. Before booking I wrote to the hotel itself to ask if they accepted a booking for 3 nights and gave them the exact times of my arrival and departure. Nothing wrong with asking right? They reply to me saying it is fine and look forward to have me stay and reception is open 24/24.
I made the booking and wrote back to them for a second confirmation. They confirmed again all was fine with the 3 nights booking and I could check in at any time.
Upon my arrival, a very nice receptionist welcomes me with a smile and checks me in. All he said was they were expecting me the following day but he gave me the room. Then comes in the night manager who starts treating me as if I was trying to con the management and get a night free. As if I would have written them two e-mails to inquire if I wanted to con them.
He raises his voice and in a very authoritarian manner, tells me he WILL charge me for the extra night. When I argue my point in a calm manner he raises his voice even more and lets me know I will not get away with it. When I ask for his name, he turns extremely nice and becomes all big smiles. His name is "Bimbo" and he has no idea how to deal with customers. I end the discussion and tell him we can continue it in the morning as, there clearly was a misunderstaning and I want to speak to someone else.
The following morning someone even worse than Bimbo comes along when I ask about the 3 nights deal as confirmed on my reservation. Her name is Virginie...apparently she's some kind of manager. She barely greets me, seems aware of the "issue" and instantly calls me a con. To my face, in public. She doesn't seem to notice my shocked reaction, nor does she apologize...she must be used to calling people names all day long. It turns out into a 20 minutes discussion and all she seems to be able to do is attempt to brainwash me by repeating 6-7 times that hotel check in is at 14 pm. I have to tell her 3-4 times that is the reason I sent them 2 e-mails to inquire before making a booking. Eventually she offers for me to speak to the hotel manager and same scenario again except the woman attempted to brainwash me with a smile and by keeping her voice low (Improvement!!)
I told the 3 of them it was unacceptable for a 4 star hotel to treat customers like that, all the manager could do was "apologize" but do nothing about it. She did attempt to deny the offence I received earlier on by her colleague but I didn't let her get away with it so I was very lucky to receive an apology... In the end she didn't even reach a compromise even though it was clear to her there was a misunderstanding. Anywhere else they would have upgraded the customer or at least not charged them an extra night. They still went ahead and charged for a 4th night since they had my credit card details. So much for calling customers cons to their face..in public.
If they're so desperate for money well let them get it while they can. However, it is totally unacceptable for a 4 star hotel to treat customers like that and attempt to humiliate them in public.
I suggested checking out earlier and they told me for sure I could but they'd still charge me the money for 4 nights!
About their rooms:
I stayed in room 301 and 505. In 301 there were pubic hairs in the bath tub, the TV did not work, the room was so small it was hard not to hit something. I opened the minibar and found a half eaten toblerone. I bet no one bothered to check it still I bet you they will try to charge me for that.
Room 505: The bathroom was primitive to say the least. They are proud to write they are equipped with hairdryers, well their hairdryer dates from the 80's. The water mixer was not working and you either get burnt of freeze to death. The bath tub had a problem and it was filling with water while I attempted to take a shower. Not to mention the mould.
Both rooms had carpets that looked, stained, dirty and well, you wouldn't want to walk barefoot on it. They have a long way to go just to be a decent 3 star hotel. Both rooms looked old, worn out and desperately needing refurbishment. The opposite of what they advertise on the net.
You can get the most modern hotel room with all comforts, wooden floors, espresso machines and cleanliness for a cheaper rate anywhere in Europe.
If only Mercure Notre Dame was humble enough to look around and learn from their competition.
I have stayed at Ibis, Meridien, Holiday Inn, Goldstar resort, Citadines in Nice, I recommend them ALL but Mercure Notre Dame... the worst hotel I have ever stayed at.
The hotel has the only advantage of being close to the train station (then again 20 other hotels are near it) but the Promenade des Anglais is a 15-20 minutes walk.
The parking is way too expensive.
The breakfast is 18 euro per person.
No gym.
The hall has this very strong cheap perfume that instantly makes you nauseous.
Some of the younger staff -who looked very young and still in training were VERY nice, so this was a positive in this nightmare stay. And the housekeepers were very polite and friendly.
But the higher up you go in the hierarchy the nastier they become.
Even if the staff had been nice I would not recommend spending your money there when basically anywhere else is nicer and with higher standards...unless it costed 30 euro per night, that's all I found it worth.
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