Mercure Angoulême, Hôtel de France: Room OK, breakfast KO

As part of a family obligation, my wife and I have to go to the Dordogne. To do this, we need to take the train to Angoulême, then rent a car to our destination.

But before getting there, we spend the night in Angoulême. Not much of a choice, we’ll be sleeping at the Mercure.

Booking

I made the reservation a few weeks before our arrival, on the ALL – Accor Live Limitless website.

It’s not cheap at all, so I choose the cheapest rate with breakfast and therefore not flexible, for just over 150€ a night.

It’s not cheap at all for a standard room in the province.

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Many walls in Angoulême are painted

Arrival

We walk to the hotel from Angoulême station. The trip on the TGV InOui was very comfortable, the TGV Océane trains are very comfortable.

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The superior comfort of SNCF’s TGV Océane trains, deployed since the opening of the hight speed line to Bordeaux.
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Business Class feel with these shell seats
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The use of the bar car (which seemed so pleasant) will be impossible

The welcome is very warm, and everything was ready for our stay. No need to provide my credit card as I used the online check-in.

Our reservation for one night with breakfast is confirmed. We were upgraded but the receptionist didn’t tell us, too bad!

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The hotel corridors are elegantly furnished

Room

Our privilege room was located on the 1st floor of the hotel.

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The front door to our bedroom

It is rather small in size.

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The front door remains in its original state

From the entrance, the bathroom is on the right. It has a toilet, washbasin and shower. The renovation is recent and it shows.

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The bathroom renovation is recent

The next room features a full-length desk, an empty minibar in which a bottle of water has been placed, and a courtesy tray.

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The small desk is located against the bathroom wall.

The double bed is not very comfortable (a bit small, my feet were sticking out) , and faces a large TV.

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The bed, not very comfortable

Finally, a large French window gives access to a large balcony, with a beautiful view of the city.

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The view from our balcony
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Waking up to a view like this is very pleasant indeed.

To finish, a video tour:

Mercure Angoulême  - Chambre classique

Hotel facilities

The hotel has a fitness room, which we won’t be using this time.

Food options

The hotel offers a good-quality restaurant, which we will only use for breakfast service.

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The main restaurant, which we won’t be using
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Ground markings have been put in place to ensure social distancing… Well…

Breakfast service

Breakfast is served as a buffet in the restaurant.

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These signboards as a welcome

There’s no welcome and you have to settle in at one of the available tables. A waitress will take our room number (but no table service).

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The coffee machine that serves a foul beverage
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This coffee is much better!

The buffet is well-stocked, but the items are not particularly qualitative.

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The bacon’s been lying around for a long time
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Not sure about the hygiene of these glasses

The scrambled eggs are particularly disgusting, and the cheeses are of poor quality. The bread is exactly the same as in all Mercure and ibis hotels.

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Very low quality of cheeses and cold meats
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It’s hard to go wrong with industrial cereals
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Even the bread is frozen, really not up to standard for a French hotel.
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Very poor quality scrambled eggs
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Of course, you have to do everything yourself

In short, not an exceptional experience.

Departure

The formalities will be brief and the invoice will be e-mailed to me within a minute.

Bottom line

A good stay in the end, but a disappointing breakfast.

Olivier Delestre-Levai
Olivier Delestre-Levai
Olivier has been into airline blogging since 2010. First a major contributor to the FlyerTalk forum, he created the FlyerPlan website in July 2012, and writes articles with a major echo among airline specialists. He now co-runs the TravelGuys blog with Bertrand, focusing on travel experience and loyalty programs.
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