Mercure Hotels in Cologne

We stayed in the hotel as a family with 7 years old child without any problem. We didn't eat breakfast at the hotel so we have no idea about restaurant. Employees are kind and doing their best. Very good location. You can walk all the touristic places. We went to Cologne on December and it was cold. Whenever we felt cold, we turned to hotel for rest in 5-10 minutes. The best christmas market (Heumarkt) is near the hotel and you can use public transport in front of the hotel (if you need). Walk distance to the Dom Cathedral, Love Bridge, Chocolate Museum, Shildergrasse and all the christmas markets.

The (non-upgraded) room is relatively spacious, well designed and quiet. I'm glad I did not accept a higher cost upgrade option. It was great for a 4-day stay. There's a separate area for clothing and storage, and a small refrigerator. There was a wall of windows, good light and effective blackout curtains. The in-room coffee service is nice - I didn't find this in my other hotels. The breakfast buffet is worth the price, especially considering the quality, and that a single cup of coffee elsewhere can easily be 5 Euros. It's not a train station hotel (one mile away from the HBF and the Dom), but this hotel is in a very nice area, and is convenient to a great many dining and entertainment options for a Cologne tourist. It's not horrible to take the train here (with one connection) if you are reasonably mobile. Public transit options are many once you figure them out. The USB charging outlets are helpful -- and I did not find these in any other of my hotels. Overall, this chain is a significant step up from the likes of Ibis and Motel One. This hotel is very much worth the reasonable premium it charges. Desk staff was very friendly and helpful throughout my visit. I would happily return to this property.

The hotel is an easy walk (just a few minutes) from the railway station. It is about two minutes walk to the cathedral which you can see (and hear) from the hotel: the bells chime quite loudly at about 08:00 am and other times. Rooms are a decent size and the beds are very comfortable. It is clean and in the room there is a safe, tv, bathroom with a shower (that oddly has no shower curtain or screen - the floor gets quite wet). Breakfast is good and includes the normal range of hot and cold foods from croissants, toast, bacon, egg, sausage, buns, cereals, hams, salamis, cheeses, coffee, tea, hot water and some really very nice fruit juices (some of the nicest I have tasted in a hotel). The staff in the dining area were really pleasant and friendly. The reception staff were a little more varied but polite and efficient enough. Outside the hotel doesn't look that much but it is generally pleasant and a great base inside. Next door are some convenience store types of shops and a kebab house that I tried and it was exactly the same as back home. McDonalds is just across the road, if that is your thing. We walked to all of the Christmas markets (where we did most of our eating) and around the city centre and down to the Rhine. All are in easy walking distance. There is a bag room where you can leave your bags upon checkout and come back for them later. The security of that was a little lax as people just walked in from the street and took their bags. I went to the reception and told them I was taking mine and the lady looked as if to say, ”ok fine.” No checks. There is also little checking of people walking in from the street and just going upstairs but the doors on the rooms were pretty secure. The lighting is not great in the room and the lights around the hotel are seemingly hanging from their connections. Overall it was a great base from which to explore the city and get to and from. good night's sleep - despite the bells and a good breakfast. I would stay again for a short break in the city.

There was no air conditioning (AC) even though the hotel advertised as having it. Their excuses was that it was too cool at night to operate the AC for the hotel even though it was actually very warm outside. Translation: the entire hotel is either on heat or AC, they are too frugal to allow use of the advertised AC, or their system is outdated and does not actually work properly. Very hot and stuff room. The odd thing was is that the hotel lobby seemed to have AC. The hallways and room were uncomfortably hot. Upon checking in there was only a little bit of toilet paper was left on the roll. Fortunately there was an extra roll provided. Only a few sheets of Kleenex were in the box. Also, the hand soap dispenser was nearly empty. It seems not much care is given to the rooms between guests. On our last day the housekeeper knocks on the door early in the morning even tough the “do not disturb” sign was hung on the door. It was a basic room with furnishings that included a desk, a small round table, 2 small nightstands, a desk chair, and one sitting chair. There was no usable refrigerator, just a mini bar. The was only one suitcase rack situated in the closet. We had to use the sitting chair for our other suitcase. The beds were not too comfortable. Also the pillow case did not completely cover the pillow, so your head might rest upon the exposed portion of the pillow where the lasts hundreds of guest placed their heads. Bathroom was OK but a bit smelly. The shower had low water pressure. Some water will leak out under the shower door to the floor. Stepping over the high tub with a slippery shower floor is a bit precarious. Internet speed was 3.81 Mbps in both upload and download, with 8 ms latency. The location is near the chocolate museum and a good pizza and pasta restaurant is nearby. The cathedral is less than a mile away. At almost 400 euros a night, it was very expensive for a poor experience. Perhaps HN stands for “Not Happy.”

Hygien, room, bed, quietness everything was great except that I got this problem with the receptionists. So I did explain to all the receptionist (that I saw-because I understand they work in shifts) that I lost 2 luggages due to the airline's mistake and airline will send them to this hostel where I would be staying (for 1 night only). I explained that if someone sent luggages here, please tell me asap because I needed to catch a train to Amsterdam the nextday noon. Imagine 35kg of personal belongs just dissapeared, I didnt have toothbrush, clean clothings.... I reminded them everything 3-4 hours when I saw a receptionist. After almost 27 hours of waiting in worry (which made me cannot enjoy the city), I talked to one receptionist to please check 1 more time becauze the airlines mailed me that they did send to the hostel at 4:30pm in the day I checked-in hostel, (only 4-5 hours after my flight time), she let me go it the luggage room and my luggages were there the whole time! So I waited in pain for 22 hours for nothing. I think it would be a bit obvious when 1 guy in delivery company uniform went in with 2 luggages and said ”this is from one of your customer.” But the receptionist just forgot it quickly and didnt tell me. I had to change a lot of my plan and I was feeling terible and stressful with the waiting and fear of lost luggages. Beside that, the condition of rooms, facilities, warm water, sound proof windows were great.

The check-in could be more swift and in a slightly more polite tone. The smallest room has plenty of space for one night, the bathroom could be more functional with more storage options, the shower is amazing. The unpleasant surprise came the next morning when breakfast was ”delivered”, which is to be taken literally as it handed out in a cartonage box. Inside were two sandwiches (ham and salami), one hard-boiled egg and fruits. If that's not to your taste - tough luck! Do not get me wrong: I can live with terrible breakfast, I am okay to (over)pay for good/halfway acceptable breakfast, but for 14€ I expect a level of choice that goes beyond vegan, vegetarian or normal. If you hope for that to have changed in the future, I also have to disappoint you: The receptionist was well-aware of the fact that this offer is a rip-off.