Mercure Bayonne Centre - le Grand Hôtel

I stayed as part of a large group of rugby supporters over the weekend of 18th Jan. As the name suggests, the hotel is central to all that Bayonne has to offer located in a quiet street. The room was spacious as was the bathroom. We arrived late on the first night but thankfully the bar was kept open - a rarity these days. Couldn’t really fault anything about it. Stupidly I left an item of clothing behind but the hotel reception has been most helpful and are returning it to my U.K. address. Would highly recommend.

Great location, good size room , comfy bed. We stayed here two nights , the location is perfect to explore Bayonne and 20 min walk to the train station. The bathroom wasn’t the “greatest cleaning”, when we arrived , apart of that our experience in the hotel was good. Plenty of restaurants and bars nearby.

We booked on the strength of the Mercure name and our previous experience of their hotels. Pros. The location was brilliant, staff were friendly and the vintage lift was amazing! The bathroom was great and the bed comfortable once we asked for extra pillows. Cons. The room. We have never before - and we hope never again - to come across such horrendous decor. It was clearly new(ish) but…the colour scheme of black, pink and puce with touches of grey for light relief were just awful. A black/green 3D leatherette headboard, a wicker covered wardrobe door, utterly bizarre side tables and a lamp which is hard to describe - and why was there a heavy curtain (think circular shower curtain) to pull around the door? When we checked out the receptionist told us everyone loved the style and, if we’d asked, we could have had a “normal” room. It’s hard to ask for one if you assume that all rooms are on the same theme. On top of all that the hallways had carpets that…I can’t find the words …and were cluttered with housekeeping trolleys holding spare duvets, linens etc. Not a nice look. Breakfast was adequate, that’s the best I can say, and expensive for what it was. Three * begins to sound generous.