Mercure Hotel Garmisch Partenkirchen

Well located, good service, great quality for the included breakfast, which can be eaten outside in the garden. We were told upon arrival that we could park in front of the hotel and were only told upon check-out that it was 10€ per night. No indication of this information during booking or check-in. The rooms were recently renovated with good taste. However, we would have hoped that the investment went to quality over aesthetics. The springs in the mattress were popping loudly everytime one of us moved and the feather pillows where lumpy. It did affect our sleep quality. To us, it seemed like in converting the building from apartments to hotel, they bought old beddings wholesale from a previous hotel.

The Partenkirchen Mercure has a great location, within walking distance of the main street of Partenkirchen and slightly further to the central area of Garmisch. Being in the middle of the German alps is a very special location. Room - We had an "updated" room which was reasonable, but far from impressive. Lighting in the room was very poor as all the main lights are on a single switch and it's not possible to isolate individual lights which isn't helpful for family usage. One light near the window is mounted so low that i knocked it several times, and has a very bright bulb which means the room lights are practically useless. The lock on the door kept jamming. The space was fairly cramped to get alongside the bed, although the bed was at least comfortable. We were greeted with a "complimentary" partly consumed bottle of mineral water. My son dropped a toy under the bed at one point and on retrieval it was very dusty. There are many surfaces in the rooms which don't appear to be cleaned. The bathroom is probably the best part of the room, although the shower sometimes starts dribbling randomly after usage. Facilities - We used the pool area a few times and this is a good facility. If you are arriving by car, bear in mind that there is not enough parking to adequately serve the hotel and you will be charged the statutory 8 Euros even if you have to park on the street (as we did for several nights). We were also charged for the Tourist Tax despite never having received or been advised about the Guest Cards which would have offered savings on some local attractions and free transport on the local buses. The hotel seems very happy to charge for these things regardless of whether they can provide them. I would have queried some of these aspects on checkout, but the "system wasn't working" and a full receipt was not provided until the email copy arrived after we had left. There is an almost perpetual queue of people at reception, so addressing issues isn't particularly easy. Breakfast - The breakfast buffet is good with a wide range of hot and cold options which vary somewhat from day to day. Despite the notices in the lifts advising when it is busiest, it tends to be busier earlier in the service. Overall - it's expensive, not particularly clean and has a lot of faults.