Mercure Chester Abbots Well Hotel

This experience started off well, with a nice little compact double room that was clean and neat and I thought would be very comfortable for the stay. However, the trip ended up being awful. The bedroom lights barely worked, with the lights by the bed not working to dim or turn on, being non-responsive or only after a lot of work and we could only use one of them .The next day, there was no turn down done on the room. We had rubbish and glasses etc in the room no towels, and no toilet paper. We had to go and request these things, which were bought to us one by one after repeatedly having to request the next item that hadn't arrived. As my partner had just ran the half marathon, we could not wait any long out of our room for them to actually do the clean and make the bed etc so this just wasn't part of our stay. The worst part was that we could not use our bathroom! The light in the bathroom was constantly flickering in a state that was sickness inducing. We could not use the light and so were only left with the following options - go to the toilet in the main hotel and shower in the swimming area (one of the options we took), use lights from our mobile phone as there was no window in the bathroom and no way to get the outside light in to the shower area properly, even when you left the door wide open to the room, or use the facilities in the dark (which was obviously what had to happen during the night when we couldn't go traipsing through the hotel in a state of undress!) To make it worse, we spoke to reception numerous times over the stay about these issues, especially the light. We were told they were busy (so hadn't done turn down) and that maintenance would check the light (no one ever came). No other solution was offered even after we explained how disruptive this was. In the end, on leaving, I asked to speak with a manager and was given their email. I did email and no resolution was found at all. The manager let me know that no maintenance team was even available during the length of our stay, so they were never going to attend to fix the issue while we were there. And then offered no compensation, no solution, and on another review on booking.com completely gaslit the situation saying that a member of staff had checked the bathroom light and it was fine - despite us sending a number of videos showing the issue. They offered 'a upgrade to the room on your next stay (subject to availability) and additional in room amenities'. We do not need an upgrade, or additional stuff, just an actual useable bathroom that isn't a health and safety nightmare. We cancelled our future stay and are disgusted with this hotel, we have stayed at Mercure before and had great stays and great customer service. This place was extremely lacking and i'd advise anyone to book somewhere else.

Everything

Only criticism is in both the room and corridors the floorboards are extremely creaky and need replacing

We liked the gym, pool, friendly staff and the dog friendly approach.

Near to park & ride

Nothing

The staff in the dining room were particularly helpful/friendly. I wish I could remember some particular names. They gave excellent service.

There was nothing I didn’t like, but I paid for breakfast & dinner beforehand. I could not work out if it is better value to simply pay for what you eat. I could never eat 3 courses and only had soup & cheese & biscuits one evening. I may have paid for a 3- course meal. Not sure how the payment for dinner works. Anyway, all the food I had was very nicely prepared and much appreciated.

DO NOT USE. Signed up for a family swimming deal, nobody said ANYTHING about putting reg in to park. Have never been here before so was none the wiser to this. Received a parking fine in the post, tried to resolve - tried getting through to hotel on a number of occasions. Impossible. Currently now in court for parking fine. Not impressed. Definitely not a good way of running a business either. Being punished for using their facilities when not being informed about parking especially when never been to the place before. Safe to say, I’ll never be coming here again. Avoid at all costs !!

Leisure centre was very good.

A bit dated with some things needing renewing. Some food items were very low or not replenished very quickly during breakfast.

Room ideal

Rooms were great, breakfast plentiful and adequate. Long wait for eggs but nice when served.