Mercure Banbury Whately Hall Hotel

Stunning looking building staff are very welcoming and friendly food is good quite a small menu ,breakfast was good and plenty of chooses, room was spacious and looked liked the bathroom has had a revamp and very spacious, bed was very comfortable and a good size , only issues could do with have air-conditioning and maybe a new carpet or cleaned stain by the door

I booked a suite for two nights. I was most surprised that they did not clean my room on the interim day. When I asked about this upon leaving they pointed to a placard on the reception desk that they do not as a matter of routine clean rooms for guests staying more than one night unless specifically requested. I was told it due to sustainability reasons. However, it was not explained how making a bed, emptying bins and generally cleaning has anything whatsover to do with sustainability.

We stayed for one night in a suite booked through Expedia and unfortunately the experience did not meet expectations, particularly given the price paid. We chose the suite because it was advertised as having a separate sitting area and complimentary WiFi. However, the room did not appear to have a genuinely separate seating area as described, and we were not provided with any WiFi information on arrival. There were several maintenance and cleanliness issues, including a broken and unstable table, an empty shower gel dispenser, an unpleasant odour coming from the bathroom, and a room telephone that did not work. We also attempted to contact room service at around 7pm and received no answer. The sofa bed was particularly disappointing. Our child, who normally sleeps very well, struggled to sleep on it and we did not feel it was suitable for use as a child's bed. The room was extremely hot on arrival, with the windows and curtains left open on one of the hottest days of the year. Despite putting the fans on immediately, it took a long time for the room to become comfortable. The hotel itself felt tired and dated in several areas and would benefit from refurbishment and improved maintenance. We were also disappointed by the breakfast arrangements. Information provided stated that weekday breakfast, including Mondays, was served from 7:00am. However, as it was a Bank Holiday Monday, breakfast did not start until 8:00am. This was not communicated to us at check in. Having been awake since 5:00am with our young child, we were expecting breakfast to be available as advertised and ultimately left without eating. We raised our concerns with staff at check out and followed up by email but did not receive a response. Overall, the stay fell well below expectations and we would not feel the suite represented good value for money.