Mercure Hotels in Villefontaine

Arrived around 8pm after a 12 hr car journey. The receptionist was helpful, the hotel lobby and the restaurants have been renovated and look exactly like in the pictures. The restaurant menu was simple, we thought we couldn’t go wrong. I ordered a sirloin steak , got an unidentified piece of tough meet they tried to flatten up and cook as a steak, a knife would not go through it , staff were rude and non apologetic when I pointed out that it was not possible to eat. €90 later for a pizza , salmon poke bowl was also appealing , a burger and a steak later the only thing worth paying for were the two glasses of Chablis. I thought the French love food ? We got a room number 20 in the outbuildings, had to walk through a nice modern lobby area towards the gym and pool, out to the back of the main building. It was a ground floor mini family room with a kitchenette. Welcomed by an unbearable smell of mould, a massive spider on the curtain, cobwebs everywhere, basic bathroom, filthy filthy walls, dirty floor , filthy carpet in the bedroom, The towels and bed sheets were possibly the only thing that was clean . Not quite sure how can the hotel get away with offering these rooms on the market , surely this is a public health hazard . The reception who was very helpful clearly new , and made no fuss when I asked to change it . Now , I know we booked the room cheap €90 room, I paid few months in advance non refundable. They sell rooms from around €140 for a family of 4 if we turned up in the day and paid then. Under no circumstances I expected to be sent to a mouldy dungeon with two young kids. Except for the helpful young man who in the end swapped the rooms it was a disaster. Possibly most awful hotel I ever stayed in and the worse food I ever ate . No exaggeration! Just to add the new room number 20 was above the mouldy room , this one was clearly upgraded , cleaner but not clean walls, newer bathroom and furniture cob webs and a hole in the curtain. Filthy window. Even had a coffee machine and 4 paper cups available , it did not smell as much though I don’t understand why upgrade upstairs and leave the bottom part of the building rot? The whole experience cost us €180 euro , for an overnight stay. Didn’t bother with a breakfast. Treated ourselves to pastry and coffee from Paula’s motorway services.