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#10 of 14 hotels in Pokolbin
Location
Cleanliness
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Value
Welcome to Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens, your Pokolbin “home away from home.” Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens aims to make your visit as relaxing and enjoyable as possible, which is why so many guests continue to come back year after year. Guest rooms offer a flat screen TV, air conditioning, and a minibar, and Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens makes getting online easy as free wifi is available. You can also take advantage of some of the amenities offered by the hotel, including room service. In addition, guests can enjoy a pool and a lounge during their visit. As an added convenience, there is free parking available to guests. If you’re looking for a French restaurant, consider a visit to Elements Bar and Dining, which is not far from Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens. If you’re looking for something to do, Hunter Valley Gardens (0.1 mi) and Constable Estate Vineyards (1.0 mi) are a nice way to spend some time, and they are all within walking distance of Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Accor Hotels.
HOTEL STYLE
Centrally Located
Mid-range
Languages Spoken
English
Location
2090 Broke Rd, Pokolbin, Cessnock, New South Wales 2320 Australia
Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
1,248 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
This hotel has a great location, it's near the gardens and some great places to eat - walking distance.
It's definitely more of a motel style accommodation than a 4 star hotel. It had a musty smell and you can see that the hotel really needs a makeover. Some staff were not as knowledgeable as others. It would be great if the hotel gave you some information about the area rather than just handing your pamphlets. Ie. telling you to book tastings in advance, what's close by etc. We have stayed at 5 star hotels close by that offered far greater in terms of service, room cleanliness etc. The room was quite dusty with stains on the wall and curtains. We also had the unpleasant smell from someones room service tray left out front of our room upon check in that wasn't ours, this was compensated upon check out.
There are great cafe's nearby for breakfast, the hotel offers $25 continental breakfast but it's definitely not worth the price, it's delivered to your door and the options are very limited.
For the right price it's a fine place to stay. The location is great, the view is pleasant, just be aware that half the rooms are upstairs with no lifts which could hinder some people and it's more motel style.
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Date of stay: July 2020
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:If stairs are an issue let them know upon check in
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Julie Pettit, General Manager at Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Responded Jul 31, 2020
Thank you for your feedback Sydney_Traveller81. You make some good points for us to improve on with our knowledge of the area to be better across all team members. It certainly gives us something to work on. I am glad the room was compensated to you by the team but particularly that you mentioned this while onsite so we could amend it for you. We certainly appreciate the opportunity to improve experiences while you are onsite, and while we are not always perfect we want to strive to be. We have reinvented our breakfast so please try again when next you stay, so thank you for that feedback. Hope to see you in the hunter again soon with an improved service and product delivery from our team. Kind regards Julie @ Mercure
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Stayed here for two nights in early November in a large room on the ground floor at the Hunter Valley Gardens end of the complex. Accommodation is motel style with a central concrete walkway (both on the first and ground floors) fronting onto the car park.
Our large room was adequately furnished with a queen-sized bed (reasonably comfortable) with a large round table with a lamp on either side of the bed. Other furniture included a three seater lounge, an upright chest of drawers with the flat screen TV on it as well as another table. The room also had a small kitchenette with a sink, microwave and bar fridge but very little else in the way of crockery, cutlery, pots or pans.
Bathroom was also large with a walk in shower (pressure was good), separate spa bath and a good sized vanity. It looked as though it had been renovated in the last year or so.
There was a small balcony with some very dusty chairs and a table. There was no safe.
Unfortunately our room and the communal areas of the hotel, whilst clean, look very dated and in good need of an upgrade. Maintenance was also not great. I reported a light bulb in one of the bedside tables was not working on our first morning and it still had not been replaced when we returned from dinner that evening. I again spoke to reception and a little while latter one of the ladies from reception came to our room with a new light bulb.
WIFI was free but did not work well at all. The hotel advised us that they were having some problems with their communications which appeared to also extend to their telephone service as we were unable to reserve an early breakfast time slot via phone ahead of our arrival.
Whilst we have normally found this hotel to be generally quiet someone in the room above us who was obviously wearing high heels certainly made a racquet on both nights.
The hotel's Covid restrictions have certainly changed (for the worse) the hotel's guest offerings. Gone is the buffet breakfast replaced with an al la carte choice with early reservations recommended. On the first evening that we arrived I explained that we had been calling ahead to get a reservation but that no one answered the phone or returned the voice mail messages. We were offered a 10-00am time slot. Also gone is ordering from the bar and having a drink in the lounge. Drinks can only be consumed in the dining area or in your room. Given that the internet was hopeless in our room we went to the lounge but couldn't even get a tea or a coffee. Í understand the reason for some of these changes though I believe some could be reviewed.
Reception staff were pleasant and friendly.
As previously discussed the major attraction of this hotel for us is its central location. However given the number of new accommodation places opening nearby this hotel is losing its edge for us.
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Date of stay: November 2020
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Julie Pettit, General Manager at Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Responded Mar 3, 2021
Thankyou for your feedback Westy54. I appreciate the detail also as it helps us improve and respond to your experience. Delighted you liked the layout of the room. We don't have cooking items such as pots and pans in the rooms as we don't have the stove items to use these one. Minimal crockery and cutlery is placed in rooms to ensure you can eat cheese plates and items such as these you have grabbed from the local area. I have mentioned your feedback about the balcony to our team to improve that for next time. We don't have in room safes but we do have a safe available at reception should you wish to store your precious items. Our owners do like the cottage style of our communal areas we do keep them well presented but this is the look they are going for. Apologies however that your light bulb was not replaced effectively during your stay. We did have some issues during your dates of travel with our communications and sadly phones and wifi are all on the same network. I do apologise for this. You should have been able to get Tea or Coffee from the lounge I apologise you were told this. Alcoholic drinks can be served currently to our terrace areas, restaurant, pool and rooms. Just not the stand up bar or lounge as inside they must be consumed with food. I have been told this restriction will go by month end, so we are very excited. Buffets look like not coming back for a while. We are currently rolling out new all TV's, all carpets and some beds upgraded in our rooms, we are reinvesting in our external property improvement too, we would love to hear your thoughts next time you visit to see if this makes a difference to your stay given your loyalty to us your opinion is highly valued. Thank you you for time. Kind regards Julie @ Mercure
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Centrally located, with all the amenities on-site, easy drive to wineries, walking distance to the gardens, Hope Estate (for big concert events), Harrigans pub, shops and some cellar doors. This hotel is a potential gold mine and could be one of the most desirable places to stay in the valley! The bed was good, linen clean, and room was neat and tidy.... but for the money we paid we expected a room which was modern and fresh, not dated and run down. I was looking forward to using the sunken bath but I could not look past the heavy rust on the metal hand rails and the dirty sky windows covered in bird poo. Despite the excellent water pressure and fancy double headed shower, it felt like showering in a corner cupboard in the dark! Provided shampoo and soaps etc were nice however not refilled prior to our stay and the body wash remained empty even after the room was serviced during our stay, the room iron was damaged which almost snagged on our clothing during use and the ironing board had a big burn mark on it which easily could have been fixed with a replacement cover. There was only 2 small tetra paks of milk provided in a fairly sizable bar fridge. Some tea and coffee sachets were available however no other mini bar, drink or snack options were provided. The buffet breakfast was adequate and provided lots of options. For over $400 per night, I feel this place could be so much better. With its location and obvious popularity, I feel like some $$ could be invested to give guests a more pleasant hotel experience. I will probably stay somewhere else during our next trip to the valley.
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Date of stay: October 2022
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My wife and I have been staying in the Valley over the past 30 years and often choose the HVG property given our Gold AAL Status and the location. This stay was by far the worst experience over this time. I arrived around 1 PM as previously requested a very slight early check in.Not ready. At 2:45 I received a call to say room was ready. Not a big deal. I was also advised of a complimentary upgrade to spa room. Arrived in the room to find a very shabby ground floor room with the curtain hanging off the rail and barely covering the window. I went to call reception and the telephone didn’t work. My wife and teenage daughter unpacked and said don’t worry as we had an appointment and needed to leave quickly. We came back around 4:30 and went to make a reservation for dinner. We were told that they were fully booked and could fit 2 but not 3. We then decided to have the bar menu and sit in the lounge as we were tired from the trip. We went to the bar and with our Complimentary drink voucher and were told we could only have 1 of 3 Drinks choices, not helpful when this is not our drink choice. I asked if I could have 2 glasses of House Chardonnay and was told no! SSB or Sparkling was only choice. I was surprised at how blunt they were as this has never been our Accor experience. I said I was not happy and did not feel a valued guest. I Ordered soft drinks and said we would look at the menu for dinner. The young girl said she would come over soon. We settled into a nice window seat in the lounge and waited to have our order taken. After 30 mins I went to the bar and ordered. I mentioned this and she said we don’t do table service. I was not happy. We ordered 3 meals. After over an 1hr waiting 2 meals arrived and the waitress said “ will that be all?” I asked where my meal was? She said that it must have been left off the docket in the kitchen and she will let me know. So my wife and daughter finished their meals and then mine arrived. The waitress said “ not sure what happened, enjoy your meal” As you can imagine I was not in a good mood. The next morning I left early for a day of fun in the Valley. We came back to the room about 5:30 and the room Had NOT been serviced and the ok to clean sign still on the door. We quickly changed and went out to dinner. Room never serviced. Mentioned all of this on checkout and thought I might have been contacted before a review.
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Review collected in partnership with Accorhotels.com
Date of stay: January 2020
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We have stayed at this resort in the past and were very disappointed with our stay. The room had an awful smell, we had “free” drink vouchers that were limited to beer or soft drink and could only be used if be purchased room service. The phone did not work , so room service meant several trips to the front desk to ask questions and order. When we received the beers and side of chips we were charged for the free drinks? ( this error was rectified on departure ). The breakfast (which was very over priced ) arrived in a box but was not what we ordered, no toast ( 4 slices of raisin bread) , no margarine and most importantly no cutlery- so we had nothing to eat cereal with, spread honey etc. I don’t believe you can blame all these issues on COVID restrictions. Very sad
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Date of stay: July 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Julie Pettit, General Manager at Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Responded Jul 29, 2020
Thank you for your post on our TA feed. I am sorry your room had a smell in it when you arrived. I hope you spoke to the team to resolve this for you during your stay. Certainly cannot 'blame' things on COVID restrictions but we definitely have to serve drinks with food as per the public health order which does make your free drink much more limiting, the charging of it of course was our mistake. The team have looked at the phone and it seems to be working fine, we are not sure what happened at the time you stayed to prevent you from calling reception. We apologise for that. We have reinvented our breakfast offering, midweek and weekend and have our sister property Harrigan's Hunter Valley as an alternate option for breakfast too. Of course this does not excuse our lack of attention to detail for your delivery or equipment already in rooms for you to eat with. Now there are three different options for breakfast for our guests, we are hoping this ensures a variety of options for guests that might want something different. Thank you again for your feedback. Kind regards Julie @ Mercure
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A great location for accessing the vineyards. We booked the cheapest room, the King Studio. These rooms are in one of the wings that have not been completely updated. The bathroom has been renovated and the bed very comfortable. However, the cupboards, sofa and bedheads have not been updated. Warning! On the Mercure site and other sites such as booking.com these rooms are called a studio but there is no kitchenette, microwave, plates, cutlery etc. It is just a standard hotel/motel room. However, these are their cheapest rooms and midweek out of holidays they can be as low as $135 a night for a nice room in the vineyards with a pool and very good restaurant. I gave this property an 4/5 but would have given it 4.5 if I could.
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Date of stay: November 2019
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from MRHVG, Manager at Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Responded Jan 24, 2020
Dear Gores54, Thank you very much for your detailed review of your recent stay with us. We are delighted to hear that you enjoyed our convenient location and your experience in our restaurant too. We hope to welcome you back to the hotel very soon. Kindest regards, Camille B Rooms Division Manager
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I've stayed here some time back and I'm always happy to return. Large room with plenty of light and comfortable. We were lucky enough to have a small courtyard with view down over the pool. Great sized bathroom and plenty of hot water and pressure. Due to the Covid-19 we didn't see many staff and food services were somewhat restricted. Breakfast was only available via room service so we declined. Great value, specially at this time of year. There maybe no concerts but the Vineyards are open for tastings.
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Date of stay: June 2020
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Ask for a ground floor unit.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from JulieatMercure, General Manager at Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Responded Jun 26, 2020
Thank you Siggy996 for your posting. Delighted you had a lovely stay. We do have some limited offerings at the moment but they are slowly increasing with legislation changes coming through. Our weekend breakfast menu is served in the restaurant but midweek currently is still to the room. Hopefully this will change soon. Looking forward to seeing you again soon. Kind regards Julie @ Mercure
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WE have been here before, but knowing Covid was going to present problems were expecting things to be different, however were disappointed when we booked and paid for full breakfast which is a bit of a treat , we only received a paper carry bag each morning with basic continental style , cook your own toast etc , this would have been acceptable, except we paid for the full breakfast which they serve on the weekends , but not in week days. Their site never mentioned this at all, we could have gone down the road and enjoyed something.l Then the evening meal , which was either two or three courses for fixed prices, and we dined two evening out of three, which the meal was well presented , it was always just warm , as we ate early and the kitchen was close by couldn't understand why? Did mention this hope it improves.
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Review collected in partnership with Accorhotels.com
Date of stay: July 2020
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of an individual contributor and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Julie Pettit, General Manager at Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Responded Aug 25, 2020
Thank you Myra for your feedback. I am sorry to let you down with our food and beverage offering. We have since upgraded our offering midweek to an A La Carte option at our Harrigan's Hunter Valley property to ensure you don't miss out. Sadly we do miss our buffets too. Hopefully things with COVID will improve soon. I am sorry your meal was only warm of a night time, this should not be the case and normally not feedback we receive, I have passed it onto the chef to keep an eye on to ensure all meals are delivered to tables lovely and hot. Thank you for your feedback again. Kind regards Julie @ Mercure
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Family couple of days with son,wife and kids plus oldies to look at the light display at the gardens next door. We had a superior king room that was very comfortable, while our son had a family room close by. Our room consists red of a king bed, very comfortable, lounge area, glass sliding doors to a patio screened from the pool and other people by a lush garden. The only complaint we had was the drain from the ensuite along the wall to the 5oilet could have done with a scrub. We ate ate the in-house restaurant on two nights and found the food quite good as was the service. Weather on one day found us sitting in the library reading and admi4ing the view. Unfortunately due to Corvis, the bar only serves drinks to the restaurant or to your rooms.
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Review collected in partnership with Accorhotels.com
Date of stay: December 2020
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Julie Pettit, General Manager at Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Responded Dec 27, 2020
Thank you Geraldine for posting on our TA feed. Merry Christmas! Delighted you had a lovely stay. It sounds like you enjoyed lots of parts of the hotel and its surrounds. We are pleased you chose to share this with us. Thank you and see you in the Hunter again soon. Kind regards Julie @ Mercure
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Very disappointed with the value and quality of this resort. We have been at many mecures across the world and this is the worst value for money and level of inclusions we have had. We could not get a drink at the bar area and were told to get a take away and drink outside. Before they blame Covid, there was ample facilities inside to comply with Covid rules. When trying to order food , we were told to go to our room and order room service. Other than the location, this has nothing going for it and considering we paid nearly $450 a night I would most definitely not stay there again.
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Date of stay: March 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Julie Pettit, General Manager at Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Responded Jun 1, 2021
Thank you for your post Storman65. Unfortunately during your travel dates there were still restrictions that prevented us from putting on our usual items but we do ensure guests are aware of this prior to travelling, both our website and prearrival email include the details you need. Covid rules at the time didn't allow you to stand and drink, so we did have to close the stand up bar even though it complies with capacity it didn't apply with liquor licensing rules at the time. Very excited that things have changed and we are able to move forward from this with most services being able to be returned to normal. Fingers crossed it stays that way. Best wishes for travelling in the future. Kind regards Julie @ Mercure
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Hello,
I have just seen this comment sorry for the delay. Breakfast if pre booked the day before is $22 instead of $32 it is for a hot and cold buffet breakfast. On the weekends we have our recovery station which is included in the price. It includes, Champagne, Berocca, Bloody Mary's and cans of soft drink.
There are more places to choose from in the Pokolbin area.
PRICE RANGE
C$152 - C$226 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
mercure resort hunter valley gardens hotel pokolbin, mercure hotel pokolbin
LOCATION
AustraliaNew South WalesGreater NewcastleCessnockPokolbin
NUMBER OF ROOMS
72
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens
Which popular attractions are close to Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens?
Nearby attractions include Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop - Hall of Food (0.3 km), Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop (0.3 km), and Pokolbin Chocolate Company & Pokolbin Jam Co (0.3 km).
