Mercure Piccadilly Hotel

Cleanliness of room/​hotel: clean rooms and very nice lobby and common areas, no weird stains nor smells
Quality of service: friendly and quick to help, stored our luggage both when we arrived early and left late, scheduled a cab for our trip back to the airport, helped us find stores, but couldn’t recommend any places to eat
Hotel amenities: if you asked for it in the lobby they had anything you forgot to pack: sewing kit, toothbrush, toothpaste, shower cap, lotion, shampoo, bodywash, soap, shoe polishing kit, etc., elevators, A/​C, desk, parking but you pay a lot for it
Hotel location: 5 minutes away from a major walking street, just around the corner from a central bus stop, 7 minutes away from the intercity bus depot, pretty good location more or less close to everything, souvenir store/​convenience market and tourist information center in the same building
Overall: I would stay there again despite it being expensive

I stayed here a couple of Christmases ago, before heading to Manchester airport for my flight back to Gibraltar. That night, the rain was hammering down and the wind was bitterly cold so after checking into the Mercure, heading straight to the bar seemed like the best idea. No way was I going back outside!
I have fond memories of the Mercure bar. We slumped in the comfiest sofas I’ve ever found in a bar, gazing out of a huge, long window offering views over a very wet but Christmassy Picadilly Gardens. The heating had been turned right up, there was free wifi, friendly staff and simple but decent food on the menu so we definitely made the right decision.
The room was basic, a bit tired-​looking but clean at least. There wasn’t much room to manœuvre with two suitcases though. The matress was really uncomfortable (too hard) and the pillows were way too fat, so I barely got an hour’s kip. Not good when you have to be up at 5am to get a taxi to the airport. I would have been far easier to fall asleep on the sofas in the bar. I wish I’d done that.

The good… located in a very central part of town, one block away from China town, a convenient store located just outside (to get water, snacks, food)… and that is the summary of the good things.
The bad… the rooms or very crowded, I couldn’t even get my luggage around in the room and had to drag it across the bed to get it to the other side. They are using a small computer screen for a TV, which has piss poor channel line up and reception. The bathroom and other spaces are showing their age. If you are looking for a good night rest, don’t count on getting it any early than 2am as the outside crowd noise can be heard even on the 9^th floor! I also found the staff to be someone slow and not very capable… either that or the background process they need to go through in checking you in /​out needs a complete overhaul.
For a one night stay for just passing through, I would come here again, but not before I try out a few other places.