Mrągowo – Hotel Mercure
Always keen to visit Accor Hotels, this is one of the few that they operate in this region and it’s part of their Mercure brand. My first impressions were, er, that I couldn’t get into the hotel. This is a flaw in the design for any hotel if I’m being honest, but I put it down to my stupidity. Until over the next two days I helped two other sets of people find their way into the hotel. This made me feel better that I wasn’t alone in understanding the challenges of finding reception.
There are two entrances to the hotel, one is a car park, which pedestrians can’t use (or couldn’t when I was there) because no-one answers the reception bell, and the other is by steps up from the lake. Although they’ve chosen not to sign these very well either, and the steps just go up into the bar rather than the reception area. It’s not really ideal, but it made it more entertaining battling my way in.
The location of the hotel was rather agreeable though, just a short walk from the lake (well, a long walk when trying to find the way in) and around a fifteen-minute walk from the town centre. It felt a peaceful environment and there are some quiet and well marked walks nearby.
For Richard, this Mercure is quite precise on who is entitled to what drinks. The member of bar staff didn’t actually know what drinks I could have, but I asked for beer, and he went with that as a suitable option. All the staff were helpful at the hotel, but I got the impression that they mostly spoke German and Polish, as this is a popular destination for Germans.
The free beer, which as far as Żywiec goes was perfectly acceptable.
I noted that a fair few of the reviews of this hotel commented on how out of date the rooms looked. I imagine this was a renovated room, as it looked fine to me.
This is also one of the few Accor hotels that I can remember who decided not to provide an information folder in the room. I had no idea what time the restaurant was open, what it served, or what facilities the hotel had. I could have gone and asked, but providing details about breakfast times, check-out times and the like would have been useful in the room.
My room had a balcony, which overlooked the woods.
How lovely.
It’s the first time in quite a while that there has been an umbrella in the room.
The bar, which certainly made an impact with its design as I felt that I was in Las Vegas again. I exaggerate slightly, as there were no roulette tables, free drinks or smokers, but it was quite definitely rather bright.
You could get a drink from the bar and then come and sit in the neighbouring seating area. Which was rather more conservatively decorated.
The breakfast counters, with an extensive amount of bread, cheeses, cold meats, yoghurts and juices. There was a hot food section of sausages, eggs and vegetables.
Breakfast (the photos are from different days, not the same day).
The hotel had a decent terrace area overlooking the lake, although it was quite cold on my visit and I was the only one sitting on it. I can imagine in summer that it’s much harder to find a table here. They also have numerous functions which take place here, so combined with coach parties, I can imagine how busy the whole hotel gets. But it is a large site, there are rows of rooms with balconies, some chalets for those who need more space and numerous areas for children to play.
The cost of this hotel was more expensive than my other accommodation during this trip, coming in at around £42 including breakfast per night. It is a resort hotel though, which explains the extra cost, and there were extensive facilities such as tennis courts, a swimming pool and an antiques room (I never worked that one out). I booked it though as I had a €40 off loyalty voucher, which made the price much more reasonable.