Mercure Grosvenor, Adelaide, Australia

Good value for money if you can ignore the annoyances

The Mercure Grosvenor is a pleasant mid-tier hotel located in an enviable spot in Adelaide.  It is opposite the railway station and the Adelaide casino, a block away from a metro tram stop and close to the main shopping area and restaurants.  

The staff at the hotel were pleasant at all times and the night manager went out of her way to return to the hotel to open the room safe that held my passport when, presumably, I had mis-entered my lock code.  

My room was large and had plenty of room for working and had a nice large shower in the bathroom (but no bath).  

Four rather minor complaints that may not affect the majority of guests.  

• First was the small amount of shelf / closet space in both the bedroom and bathroom.  This is a European trait that we do not need to extend to the USA.  There was little space to put my toiletries in the bathroom and the closet was only big enough for a gnome’s clothes.  
• Second was the poor effort at providing a gym.  The exercise room contained two machines, a stationary bicycle that was on its last legs (wheels!!) and essentially unusable and a treadmill that worked with a lot of noise.  The TV in the exercise room did not work even after I requested it be fixed.  
• Third was the lack of natural light in my room.  The windows were perhaps a foot deep from the ceiling, I could only look out by standing on a chair.  
• Fourth was the very annoying wifi service.  The basic service for email was free, but it was very intermittent.  Some of the time it worked well, some of the time it did not work at all.  I use Viber and WhatsAp to communicate regularly with my wife in the US and the continual breakdowns in service were very annoying. 

Despite these minor annoyances, I would stay again.  All the staff I met made the difference, they were smiling and helpful at all times and I particularly liked the option they have of not using maid service to change sheets and towels during your stay, I strongly support the conservation efforts, though it would be nice to get a discount if you refuse room service for a day or two.