The room was very large and clean from first appearances.
Having just flown in from USA I was very sleepy and the bed slept great at first.
But I awoke in the middle of the night itching and unaware.
I noticed streaks and drops of blood on the sheets and upon further inspection around the covers and under pillow I saw the bedbugs. Once you start to see them they are everywhere on the bed and blood drops from head to toe on the pillows and sheets.
I captured a few bedbugs and delivered them to the frontdesk which was very nice and surprised. They assured me they would move me to new room while I was away on business that day. I returned late to frontdesk where they explained they had cleaned and sprayed same room and were putting me back in same room.
I checked the bed and it was clean and no sign of bugs around the top and bottom edges of bed.
I managed to sleep about 2 hrs before I awoke again to itching and more bed bugs.
I was on second floor and a fellow colleague was on fourth floor and did not experience any bugs.
The hotel refused to comp room instead gave free breakfast.
That the hotel did not provide new room and did not immediately call professional exterminators was very poor hotel management.

Pros:
- Located adjacent to Old Port (Vieux Port) within closet possible walking distance to the greatest variety of local attractions
- Rooms are clean, comfortable, and large with high ceiling

Cons:
- Parking in the area is practically nonexistent; use valet parking
- Bathroom is nice and stylish but shower sprays water everywhere
- Traffic in this zone of Marseille can be very bad; plan extra time if entering or exiting the city at peak hours
- Price is higher than most other hotels in Marseille at €200 per night in March 2008
- Internet isn’t free

Overall:
- A very good hotel and I would stay here again

We arrived by taxi from the St. Charles train station. The hotel is small but very comfortable. The rooms have been remodeled and the beds were VERY comfortable. Bathroom was beautiful but no shower door so water splashed all over the floor. Our room faced a small courtyard - very small. But it was quite. The breakfast buffet was very good and overlooked the port. Plenty of cafe's around the hotel - but as of this date they are all smoking locations so that limited us.

Having booked Coupe du Monde tickets for the two QF games in Marseille and having been shunted out of our pre-booked Aix-en-Provence hotel in favour of a hotel a further 100km from Marseille, we decided instead to chance it on the night and see if we could get a room in ANY hotel in Marseille. Through a combination of sheer cunning and enormous luck, we ended up in the Mercure with the best possible view of the whole city, in particular of its residents going absolutely NUTS after a French win against the Kiwis. This, in itself, made the hotel the best in Marseille.

Fortunately, although our room was quite small, it was also very pleasingly decorated, fresh and clean with an outstanding shower and super-effective double glazing which managed to keep out all of the noise on what must have been the craziest night in Marseille in a long while. I can honestly say I had a fantastic nights sleep (nothing to do with the quantity of vodka consumed, I'm sure) in a very comfortable bed. The reception staff were exceptionally helpful and efficient - and we weren't charged an extortionate price in spite of walking in and booking the room on the spot. The bar looked a little bit soul-less but we weren't planning on hanging out there anyway. All in all, a good find.