Last week me and hubby had a business trip in Bandung for two days. We went to Bandung on Friday morning in order to avoid the traffic jam. We spent our night at Mercure Hotel Setiabudi Bandung. Mercure is a four star hotel, belonging to Accor Group. This hotel is rather new than Novotel Bandung. And for intermezzo, the five star Accor's Pullman is under construction so we will definitely try to stay there when it is operated next years.
Aside from a rather new hotel, we chose Mercure because we have been disappointed from all budget hotels we had stayed in Bandung before. Our memorable stay in Bandung is at Padma Hotel and that is a luxury hotel. Anyway, staying at Mercure met our expectation.
After we parked the car at the basement, we go into the hotel lobby. It has nice architecture and ambience. I love the hanging lamp in the ceiling, it so gorgeous. It's not really crowded at that time, so we don't wait too long until we got into the room. The hotel lobby connects to restaurant and swimming pool.
They have two main buildings connected by the lobby as well. They have pool for adults and also for children. The pool is quite big. Several rooms connect directly to the pool. There is also a bar near the pool to people chill out drinking while enjoying the pool.
I got lucky because on Friday afternoon, no one use the pool. So I literally own the pool. I swam and took pictures until my heart content without any disruption. When I went out later, many people are gathering in pool area and it is impossible to have the pictures as shown below.
So yes this is our room. It has decent size, it is quite comfortable to stay in room aside for sleeping. The flooring is parquet and there is a rug in front of the bed. The bathroom has no bathtub. Unfortunately, our bathroom is not quite "clean". Well, IT IS hygienic, however, the water rust has accumulated in showers which makes our shower experience are not as good as we expected. Aside from that, the room is up to 4 star hotel expectation.
As for breakfast, they offer a wide variety yet standard kind of breakfast; the western (including eggs open kitchen), Indonesian, also some fruits and juices. The taste is quite good actually. You can pick both indoor or outdoor seating for breakfast.
Staying in Mercure is recommended, especially in weekdays. On weekends, the downside is the location. Mercure is located in Jalan Setiabudhi, near Ledeng Terminal. It is a well known traffic spot and main route to Lembang; the major attraction points in Bandung. Going from or to Mercure in weekends will slightly frustrating because of the traffic. The exception is if you are planning to go to Lembang, this is the best hotel to stay, especially if you do not like a gothic-themed hotel like G.H. Universal Hotel.
On Weekdays however, Setiabudhi is not as jammed as on weekend. So the hotel is at the best location compared to the more expensive one in city centers. So if you went to business trip, we recommend this hotel.
