Mercure Grenoble Centre Alpotel

The bed was quite comfortable, but that was about the only positive in an otherwise disappointing stay. The room and shower were small, amenities were limited, and even the lobby was small. In the room, Wi-Fi stayed connected but had no internet. It worked in the hallway, which was both funny and frustrating. Breakfast was below standard for a four-star hotel, with limited choices and disappointing quality. Service was slow, and during our visit the food ran out for quite a while.

The staff were friendly and helpful, and breakfast was good. Heating, though, seems to be a recurring issue here. People we met also complained about it. In our first room, the toilet flush didn’t work properly. We asked to move, and in the next room the heating wasn’t working right. A tip if you’re staying there and freezing: setting the HVAC to 5, rather than a higher number, seemed to make the room a little more bearable. The rooms are very cramped and poorly laid out. Once you open a suitcase, there’s no room to move, especially with two tables and a big chair in there.

The staff were very friendly, efficient, and professional. Still, this isn’t a place for a good night’s sleep. You hear your neighbors showering and waking up because the soundproofing is so poor. The air conditioning is noisy and barely effective, and the beds have creaky, outdated springs. The bathroom has a shower in the bathtub, which seems hard to imagine for a modern four-star hotel. It looks fancy in the pictures, but the renovation seems to have been mostly for appearance, with the building’s core still original. There are much better hotels nearby, so I’d pass on this one.

The breakfast staff were excellent, courteous, friendly, and helpful. One person even offered to refill my water bottle without being asked, which was thoughtful. The front desk staff were courteous too, though I felt as if they were doing me a favor. The first room had a safe that didn’t work at all and an A/C that I couldn’t feel even with my hand next to the vent. The second room was different only in that the safe worked. It was small, but very clean. A little more space would have been ideal, though there wasn’t much they could do about that. I didn’t check the bill closely when I left and later noticed an extra breakfast charge. I emailed, and they first said it was correct. I had to explain that I was one person, so there should be one breakfast for each night I stayed. They eventually agreed it was their mistake. It wasn’t my best hotel experience.