Short review
Note: 3 is average
Value for money: 3.5/5 – Reasonably priced given its location in the city centre
Services: 2.5/5 – Some good, some not so
Bedroom: 4/5 – Spacious with a good view
Sleep quality: 5/5 – Generally good
Bathroom: 3.5/5 – Bathtub is a plus; experienced some minor issues
Facilities and amenities: 4/5 – A gym and a pool with a city view
Pros
- Strategic location in the city centre
Cons
- Inconsistent services
Long review
Mercure Brisbane King George Square is strategically located in the Brisbane CBD. From the airport, it can be conveniently reached by train as the Brisbane Central Station is less than 500 metres away. As indicated by its name, King George Square, named after King George V, is adjacent to the hotel along with the 100 years old Brisbane City Hall. Also next to the hotel is the heritage Albert Street Uniting Church, which was built in 1889. Being centrally located, there are many other places of interest. The Queen Street Mall is within a short distance walk. It is a 500-metre pedestrian mall on Queen Street, which has more than 700 retailers, including six major shopping centres. Naturally, there are also many places to eat here. Still within a walking distance, Roma Street Parkland offers beautiful scenic gardens, a good spot to walk around and enjoy some nature. It also has a good playground for kids. Other places in Brisbane can be easily reached by train, bus, or ferry.
I am a bit side-tracked here, so let’s now focus on the hotel itself. Interestingly, the hotel shares its lobby with Pullman Brisbane King George Square, which caused a bit of confusion at first. The lobby is quite nicely designed with a reception desk in its centre. I also noticed a baby grand piano in one corner. Check-in was quick and the staff was generous in providing a lot of welcome drink vouchers for us (it took us a few days to use them all).
Our room was a deluxe corner room with 2 queen beds on the 12th floor. It is fairly spacious at about 32 sqm. A welcome note and a welcome gift, comprising a box of cookies and a bottle of Perrier sparkling water, were placed on the table. I should note that there is a spelling mistake in the welcome note (Sqaure instead of Square).
The views were wonderful. From one window, we could see the King George Square and the Brisbane City Hall, while from the other, the Albert Street Uniting Church. The windows also provide a great view of the Brisbane’s skyline. The beds themselves were comfortable and the double glazing did a good job in blocking noises from outside. Along with the nice room temperature, we had good night’s sleeps throughout our stay. Other amenities were as expected from a four-star hotel.
Checking the bathroom, it was a nice surprise to see a bathtub, which has become a rarity nowadays. The hotel also provided some premium amenities by Soap Co and Balmain. The bathroom looked a bit dated though. I noticed some minor damage on the laminating of the window. The shower head is too short as well although I am not sure whether they can do anything on that given the low ceiling. The water from the toilet tank also kept slowly trickling into the toilet bowl. It didn’t cause any inconvenience, but certainly it was a waste of water. Also one time, after I drained the water in the bathtub, some water came out from another drain hole.
Breakfast was served at the Golden Finch restaurant, and it was enjoyable. It was a typical Australian breakfast buffet, but the variety of the bread, drinks, and other side dishes was fairly good for an Australian hotel standard. The hotel staff during breakfast were generally lovely, although I did notice that sometimes they were a bit slow to serve guests when they arrived. My wife and daughter also had a dinner one evening, and the service was not up to the standard due to the staff not knowing the menu well enough and not being courteous when my wife ordered or asked something. We also enjoyed some welcome drinks several evenings in the same restaurant and we observed again that the service was rather slow. We noticed, for example, that some dishes were left on the counter for quite some time before being served to the diners.
Since we are talking about services here, I noticed that room service leftovers from one of the rooms on our floor was not removed for 2 days. Glasses and mugs that we used in the room were not replaced either during our stay. One day, the housekeeping service was late too. We went back to the hotel in the afternoon and the room has not been cleaned.
Other facilities in the hotel are a bar, a swimming pool and a gym, all of which are located on the top floor. The pool is on the small side, but the seating area around the pool is nice for relaxing and enjoying the sun, while appreciating the city view. The gym is fairly small, but functional and did its purpose. Usually I stop my review here, but I had a rather annoying experience during check out. Usually check out was a straightforward affair, but it took me about 10 minutes to check out due to the queue. Then the check out staff wanted to initially charge me more for breakfast, which should have been included in the first place. Having shared this, I should say that the staff was previously generous in giving me a 3 PM late check out.
Before I go, here are some photos of places around the hotel.
