We spent one night in Stratford-Upon-Avon and booked at the Mercure Shakespeare through hotels.com, based on their recommendation of the hotel. It was a good location; we walked from the train station to the hotel and from the hotel to the various Shakespeare attractions around town. We loved the character of the building. We were booked into the Junior Suite, which was absolutely beautiful. It had a character lofty feel with slanted ceilings and decorative windows. However, character did not mean run down- it had modern furnishings and amenities (eg. flat screen tvs in both living room and bedroom, mp3 hookups, modern bathroom). Absolutely a wonderful feel. The front desk was very helpful; they recommended a wonderful restaurant for celebrating our engagement (we got engaged in our hotel room!), held our bags for us the next day while we explored the town, checked train schedules for us and even called a taxi to get us to the train station on time when we realized that the train we wanted left in about 10 minutes.
We would definitely go back, both because it's now a special place for us and because we had such a great experience.

I booked a one night stay at The Shakespeare to coincide with a RSC play. I booked a junior suite largely based upon the pictures on-site and promise of the little extra luxuries.
Positives of my stay:
- aesthetics of the building were beautiful and very much in keeping with Stratford Upon Avon
- no more than a five minute walk to the theatre - excellent location
- the second room which we were moved to was excellent, very clean and furnished to a high standard
- staff member whom I complained to about our original room was incredibly receptive and understanding
Negatives of my stay
- the first room we had been booked in to was appalling. The room was tired beyond belief, curtains filthy, bathroom blind was bent and dusty, furnishings stained and carpet had seen better days. Truly awful. This was completely remedied by the front desk changing our room to the Julius Caesar room on the first floor.
- the overall temperature of the hotel was too cold. Given all the large fireplaces throughout the ground floor I would have thought it would have made sense to light them and heat the place up. It made sitting for breakfast an uncomfortable experience.
- breakfast below average. Everything felt pre-cooked and we had to wait 30 mins + for the mediocre meal.
All in all our stay was a mixed bag - I'm really in two minds whether to stay again or try somewhere else. If I do stay again I'll be sure to insist on one of the newly re-furnished rooms.

I booked this hotel in the middle of Stratford for quick getaway with my boyfriend. Having paid over £200 for a 2 ngiht stay I was honestly pretty gobsmacked and very disappointed at the room I was given. It must have been the smallest room in the hotel over looking the back carpark. You had to squeeze round the bed to reach the bathroom. It was right next to a fire door that was constantly banged closed at night and early morning and also right next to the service elevator so the staff were constantly up and down from 6am often standing outside my door talking in very loud voices. If you walked further through the hotel yu reached the nice rooms which were all personally named and nice touches like door knockers. On the positive side, the food was nice and the staff were pleasent but I have had much better rooms in 2 and 3 star hotels at half the price. I would not stay here again.