Mercure Chongqing Downtown

Read time:

4–6 minutes

cyberpunk 1877

Accor Live Limitless, H World, Mercure, Northeast Asia, Select

Chongqing is known as the “3D Cyberpunk Capital” of China, thanks to its mountainous cityscape, grand skyscrapers and the resulting skyline view. So naturally, when I was booking a hotel for my first trip to Chongqing, I prioritized location and view, and ended up choosing the Mercure Chongqing Downtown based on the room type options and central location.

This would be my second stay at Mercure properties, so I was still fairly new to the experience and didn’t quite know what to expect, and to be honest, my first impression was not exactly great. The hotel entrance was located directly on a busy street intersection with no secluded carport or driveway, and most surprisingly not even its own lobby. In fact, the lobby and the entire building was shared among 8 (yes, EIGHT!) accommodation providers, with Mercure occupying only seven floors. This shared situation meant that my check-in experience was quite chaotic and noisy, to a point I had to lean over the front desk to make out what the associate was trying to tell me. I was even more surprised when I realized guest floors were open access, meaning that anyone off the street could have accessed any guest floors of any hotels within the building via any elevators. Even in China, considering the hotel was located right in the middle of Chongqing’s busiest tourist areas, this in particular still didn’t sit well with me, and I had to take extra steps to safeguard my belongings.

Once upstairs though, things calmed down quite a bit, and I was able to find my room quite easily. I booked a river view suite, and although there wasn’t much river to be seen, the city view itself was splendid especially at night.

The room itself was very roomy – much more roomy than most standard one-bedroom suites out there – but was surprisingly old-school. I thought Mercure’s room design was supposed to be French-inspired, but no, my suite was very much traditional Chinese-style, which meant wood, wood and more wood. The hotel opened in 2019, but had I not known that, I would have guessed 1919.

Everything was predominantly red and orange, and even wall arts were weirdly all replicas of famous old Chinese artworks. Not only that, they were also not representative of Chongqing as a city, but rather quite generic. Weirdly enough, they did suit everything else in the suite which I’m sure was the intention here, unfortunately though they were just not as interesting to me.

In addition, even though the suite was laid out quite well and had all the fixtures I expected, hardwood was also the main theme for my furniture, and the seats were all extremely uncomfortable to sit on, and because sculptured wood surfaces are quite hard to properly clean, some designs were already looking dull and dirty, not to mention the wear and tear that came from frequent wood-on-wood contact.

I’d sat on park benches that were more comfortable than this ottoman

The bathroom, thankfully, was quite normal. There was a standard toilet, a shower room and a separate double tub, arranged in a strip. It was also fairly clean, and given the age of the hotel, pretty well maintained apart from one leaky seal on the shower room door.

What made the hotel stand out though was not the hard product. Instead, the service here was above and beyond. The front desk team was very attentive and courteous, and after I questioned them about the river view situation, they arranged a room on the highest floor for me on day two, and even offered to move my luggage for me when I was out. I politely declined and made the move myself – which was unfortunately pointless by the way – the 34th floor offered the exact same view as my original suite on 29th, but it was the gesture that counted. Also, every day housekeeping would leave a fruit plate and some snacks for me on my desk, to the point I had to stop them saying I wouldn’t be able to finish all the fruits they’d given me.

Food and beverage wise, I don’t think I found an all-day restaurant on site (not that it was a problem – there was an entire street worth of food literally right downstairs), but breakfast was provided in their dining room on the 6th floor. It was above what I expected, with ample local (spicy) options as well as a salad bar, a noodle station and even a dessert bar. Taste was okay, but with this kind of variety I had zero problem finding new delicious stuff every morning.

Day time view, with the Moxy Chongqing in sight. For a review (in Chinese) for that hotel, click here

All in all, even though I had very strong opinions with room design, the Mercure Chongqing Downtown was not a disappointment – actually far from it. I got what I asked for – the awesome view, the perfect location, the massive suite, as well as great service. It just so happened I didn’t vibe with woodgrain, but it’s 100% down to personal preference – if this is your style by chance, this hotel would be literal heaven.

RealScore

Service: 9.0

Design and Room Size: 7.5

In-room Amenities: 8

Bathroom Size and Layout: 10

View from (my) Room: 9

Hotel Location: 9

Available Guest Facilities: 5

Food Quality: 7

Food and Beverage Service: 7

Executive Lounge Quality: N/A

Final RealScore: 8.06