Mercure Berau

It was the best hotel of my stay in Kalimantan. The room seemed quite new, the staff were kind, and breakfast had a lot of different choices. For the price, I thought it was really good.

We booked a villa after spending several days out in the islands because we wanted a decent room. The room itself was good, but there were lots of mosquitoes. We asked for it to be sprayed, yet they were still there when we got back, and I’m not sure whether anything was done. That made the stay very unpleasant, especially since this seemed preventable. There were other service issues. The shampoo and conditioner were both empty, so I called housekeeping. The staff member brought shampoo first, then had to go back for conditioner, which took a while at night when we wanted to shower and rest. He kept his shoes on inside and left a shoe print on the bath mat. The coffee machine didn’t work and had to be changed. The lights outside the villa blinked like emergency lights at night. Staff checked and found a connection problem, then switched them off to fix the next day. At checkout, the front desk staff seemed to think there were several of us, and no one offered to help with the luggage. The standard service checks were lacking.

I just checked out, and I’m sure I left my honey behind. Housekeeping didn’t report finding it while clearing the room, which made the experience disappointing. Please be careful about recruitment and staff attitude. The room and staff were otherwise great, but this left me feeling let down. Mercure Berau can do better.

We spent a few days in Berau and were very happy with the Mercure. The rooms are clean, comfortable, nicely sized, and well equipped, with stylish finishes. Everyone was friendly and helpful, from check-in and cleaning to the restaurant, especially for someone like me whose Bahasa is terrible. The facilities had everything we needed, and both breakfast and dinner offered varied, delicious choices. The staff were ready to help with anything. If you’re staying in Berau, this is the place. Stop reading and start booking!