Our stay at the Mercure Grand Hotel, Biedermeier Wien, Vienna {Review}

The Mercure Grand Hotel in Vienna is nestled in one of the sweetest, cobblestoned streets. With pretty coloured umbrellas overhead as you walk beneath an array of colours towards the reception. As you enter the reception of the hotel, it is quite clear to see how beautiful this hotel truly is. Well-lit, minimalistic decor and very pleasant staff waiting to check you in. My eldest daughter and I who were visiting, are hotel staff under the same umbrella brand i.e. Accor, in the UK. So it was nice to have a chance to sample another Accor-run hotel.

We travelled from Vienna airport, by train to Wien-Mitte station, which is based inside the Wien-Mitte shopping mall. From there, we walked out and turned left and the hotel is about a 5-6 minute walk from the shopping wall.

The hotel is nestled away in one of the cutest little cobbled streets. With bars, restaurants, independent shops, and soft music playing overhead. Not forgetting the centrepieces, the hanging festive lights and umbrellas that give this little cobble Viennese street a little magic.

Checking in

You can check into this hotel from 3 pm and checking out time is at 12 pm. We arrived at around 6 pm and checking into the Mercure Grand Hotel took quite a bit longer than I think anyone would have wanted. Our reservation was half staff complimentary voucher/half purchased by myself. So it wasn’t your standard reservation.

However, having weeks of emails back & forth with the reception staff, informing them of our stay. And as a fellow hotel worker, you would assume all of that would have been on our reservation {as it should have been}. But sadly, it was not. So, checking in took around 15 mins.

Our Accommodation for our stay in Vienna

Our room was on the second floor and in the Privilege Rooms area of the Mercure Grand Hotel. The room itself was still beautiful. Much bigger and fancier than we expected. It was 25m² and it came with an array of perks. We had a Privilege Room with a King Sized Bed and a Sofa Bed that was made up for my daughter. Both beds were very comfortable and we were even left with slippers and robes! 

There were two bathrooms. One toilet room as you came into the bedroom and the other had a bath/shower and sink. It had a hairdryer, really nice lighting and it also had a little make-up mirror on the wall too, if that is how you roll. The wardrobe space is spacious with a safe to keep your travel documentation locked away during your stay, with a handy section to keep your suitcases on, if you wished.

Business Work Desk & Elegant Lighting

Inside the bedroom was a desk, with a lamp that I found really useful during our stay. As a blogger and working with brands, you are kind of “on duty” 24/7 and if work needs doing, regardless of where in the world you are, the work gets done. So I quite enjoyed sitting there in the evenings to work.

Overall, the bedroom was really nice, really comfortable and we could not fault it. The shower pressure was really good as well and having fresh towels every day was an extra special treat. The only thing was the TV wasn’t watchable unless you spoke Dutch or German. We tried to change the channel, but the TV refused. So we just watched Netflix on our laptops. No big deal, it’s just one of those things.

The only negative I have to say about the room was the lack of view from our bedroom. We had three beautiful Viennese-style shutter windows and when opened, you just saw a building facing us. And as we were above the kitchen/restaurant, the smell of cooking food etc was all we could smell if we had our windows open.

According to the website, if staying in these rooms, a garden view is available but subject to availability. So if you are looking to choose these privileged rooms, ask for the garden view. Other than that, the room was really, really lovely.

The hat goes off to Housekeeping!

Inside the cupboard, next to the wardrobe was a coffee pod machine and a mini fridge stocked with sparkling water {water of choice in Vienna!}, fresh orange juice, beers and Coke Cola.

This was very unexpected and it even got restocked on a daily basis when our beds got made every day too. So a huge thank you to Housekeeping for that, as that treatment was not expected, but very appreciated. 

Thoughts on Breakfast?

Breakfast at the Mercure Grand hotel costs €17pp, which I think is quite expensive, especially after seeing the small selection of food on offer. For the continental section, there was a selection of meats, cheeses, pastries and cakes available, as well as cereals, cut-up fruit {watermelon, pineapple, fruit salad etc} and there was a toaster with a selection of bread. As well as a bowl of Nutella and a selection of jams. There is also a selection of fresh juices available too, along with water on your table.

For the hot food, there were scrambled eggs, cocktail sausages, what I *think* was bacon as well as crepe pancakes. I have to be honest, there were flies walking over the diced fruit in the display, and the hot food was not nice at all. Very undercooked and for a 4-star hotel, I found it really disappointing. Overall, it certainly is not worth €17pp. We also sadly had an issue where we had paid for breakfast but we were not on the book, so each morning we had to explain the same situation as we checked into the restaurant. Nothing major, but not ideal either I have to say.

Where else to get food?

There are a few restaurants down the cobbled street where the Mercure Grand Hotel resides. I had the opportunity to try one during our stay in Vienna. It was night time, the festoon lights gave the little street a touch of magic and with the jazz music softly playing, it was perfection.  

I managed to get a table by candlelight, and in no time at all a waiter came by to take my order. My order was a Gordon’s Gin with Sprite along with a BBQ Burger and frites. I have to be honest, the food was delicious and the gin went down a treat. Especially after a long day in the sunshine sightseeing, it was the perfect way to unwind after a busy day. 

Overall thoughts

Overall, we had a really nice, comfortable stay at the Mercure Grand Hotel, Biedermeier Wien, Vienna. It was clean, the staff were friendly, the room we were assigned was beautiful, regardless of the lack of view. And as mentioned before, the only major let down was the food. If the breakfast was also catered towards tourists coming into the City, then all would be well. But sadly it isn’t. This is still a hotel I would recommend to anyone staying at, just, go elsewhere to eat in my opinion. 

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*This was not a paid collaboration or gifted stay. My daughter won a voucher for two nights stay here through work and I paid for the additional two nights stay. All thoughts, photos and opinions are my own.