The Mercure is situated a short walk away from the lovely town of Uzes. It is an attractive building, with a pleasant garden. There is a swimming pool, but it is a bit on the small side. Rooms are modern, but the ones allocated as part of our package holiday were small and had no air conditioning. This made sleeping difficult as the temperature averaged between 33 and 38 degrees! There appeared to be air conditioning in the inner dining room, but it was never switched on.

Our main complaint is that package holiday guests are definitelty treated as second class citizens. You're okay if yours is the only party in, but once two parties are there, there aren't enough cups and saucers or cutlery to go round. Despite it not being a part of both cultures, English and Dutch guests were expected to use bowls for tea or coffee instead of cups. One member of staff serving at breakfast was particularly unhelpful regarding cups and certainly made no concessions to the English or Dutch languages. It was 'la boule' or nothing. I actually took some cups to my room and washed them!

My main complaint, however, was the lack of choice and the poor quality of our evening meals. A couple were just about satisfactory, but the rest were poor. In a country where excellent small quiches and pastries can be purchased for around 2 Euros, it is somewhat insulting to receive a small portion of thick custard in a little tinfoil container!!! Clearly, the hotel was saving on the washing up again!!!!Another dessert appeared to be no more than chocolate instant whip!

All of this contrasted with the excellent breakfasts, where there was both choice and variety in what was on offer - apart from the lack of cups and saucers. Come on, Mercure, if you're going to take in groups, treat them as guests and not as an inconvenience.