Mercure Salisbury White Hart Hotel

Two double rooms booked for two nights, for a wedding - one standard and one upgraded. The standard room was very pleasant, clean, spacious, and warm and with a place for two to sit as well as a desk and chair. There were no complaints. The upgraded (newer) room was small – with no place to sit other than at a desk so that one person had to sit on the edge of the bed to watch TV etc., and had a very unpleasant smell of drains. Reception moved us to another room – this time with no smell – and we were initially happy with the change. However, this being one of the coldest weekends of the year thus far, we were amazed to find that the newly refurbished bathroom had no heating - of any type: no radiator, no heated floor or even a heated towel rail. A design fault – the architect and designer should be shot, or at least made to stay in the room! With two single-glazed windows and a ceramic tiled floor the bathroom was extremely unpleasant to use. We assume that the air-con unit in the bedroom was meant to heat bedroom and bathroom - it failed miserably and was, at times, blowing out cold air so that even the bedroom temperature fluctuated tremendously.Sunday morning breakfast was a fiasco. The hotel was full due to several weddings in the area and we were told at check-in on the Friday that the main function and dining rooms would be in use from around 09.30 on the Sunday for a pre-booked Physic fair: therefore room service breakfast would be available at no extra charge. A good alternative - except that there were too many rooms taking up this offer and the hotel had not thought to increase staffing levels to cope with an increased and totally predictable demand. Our breakfast was over 45 minutes late and others were even later – and at check out we were then asked to pay full room-service breakfast charges. There were also several other incorrect items on our bill: we had been told that parking was free for the wedding, but were initially charged, and also asked to pay for someone else's room. The poor receptionist was doing her best to remain calm and helpful whilst working single-handed: a 'manager' appeared to be sitting in his office behind reception. The queue for check-out just kept growing behind us as we queried one item after another. Forward planning by the hotel management should have foreseen that a full hotel may all be checking out at around the same time on the Sunday morning, and therefore increased reception staff. The main pluses were location, quality of food both in the restaurant the evening before and at the wedding reception, and the staff, [...] from Hungary gets special mention for her friendliness and attention, as does the other waitress (Friday night and Saturday service – sorry I cannot remember her name) who was pleasant, attentive and industrious.

Easy to find, nice location, good service.

we had a good experience at this hotel. the room was modern and comfortable. the bath was small but usable. the beds were new and the decor was fresh. for a mid price hotel in the uk, it was better than average.

The staff was very courteous, helped us with directions, luggage and with my Mom's walker which was problematic with the absense of the elevator. The hotel was easy to find and in a good location.

The room was large but the bathroom small. The room was hot and the small fan provided was of little use. Although the hotel had only a few floors, there was no lift although a porter was available to help with suitcases.

Pros: Convenient Location Historical Building Helpful Staff Decent View In-room CD Player In-room Tea & Biscuits Cons: No elevator Unrenovated floors lack Air Conditioning/Heating Road Noise Internet in Lobby didn't work Loud toilet Uncomfortable Bed The renovated floors are likely better.