In Reply to: Mercure Kuta? posted by ger on Monday, 2. July 2007 at 19:05 Bali Time:
Hi
We stayed there last September for the last 3 nights of our holiday, after spending the previous 11 nights at the Kumala Pantai (thanks to those on this forum who put us onto that hotel). We chose to book the last 3 nights at the Mecure Kuta as it was more convenient to the shopping centres than the KP, which is a few minutes taxi ride further away from the airport end of the island. In retrospect, we should have just stayed at the KP which was excellent value.
At the Mecure we stayed in an Ocean View room away from the Hard Rock Hotel (having seen on this forum that that was the quieter side). Unfortunately, it was still very noisy two of the three nights, much of the noise come from the busy street below. One of those nights there was some festival on. The rooms were small, but adequate for 2 adults, and a little worn. The swimming pool on the roof is attractive, but very small. Breakfast was good.
On the positive side, the roof level which includes the restaurant and pool was very pleasant and the staff were all helpful (although no more so than many other hotels we have stayed in in Kuta/Legian). Like a lot of the hotels, it is directly across the road from the beach, so to return to your room from the beach would only take a couple of minutes.
I can't give you any feedback about having a young child there, except to say that the Ocean View rooms would be very small for the 3 of you - they are about half the average size of other Balinese rooms we have stayed in. The standard rooms would be totally impracticable.
If you do some research on this forum, you will be able to find better options recommended in this price range (KP, Jayakarta, Puri Raja are all names that appear frequently), but whether they will still have vacancies at this late stage is a different question.
If you do end up booking at the Mercure don't worry, it is nice enough and is in a good location. Enjoy your trip - we're off to Bali again in 7 weeks and counting down the days.