I stayed there from April 18 - 23, 2007. My room was clean and comfortable. House keeping personnel were very efficient but not intrusive.

The staff overall was helpful and friendly. All spoke very good English. One point they could clariy was the availability of irons/ironing boards. I called the desk and asked for one and was told to go to room 217 where there were 2 stations for ironing. The hotel guide was not clear on this.

This hotel is very convenient to the U & S-bahn lines serving downtown Stuttgart. No further than 30 minutes I would estimate.

Spa and Pool: Very nice. It is a "textile frei" area which means no bathing suits outside the pool area. Very German/European and it's worth using, just rent a bathrobe.

We had an average stay at the reasonably spacious Mercure Hotel. The location is very good, a quick walk to the Stuttgart Vaihingen train station. (Be careful when getting there that you head towards the right train station, since oddly enough there are two different Vaihingens in the region!) We had a pleasant view of the nearby park, and since it's one of the tallest buildings in the area it's difficult to get lost.

The staff was friendly but unobtrusive, and the room was reasonable. We were pleased that the windows open, although the shades are automated and seem to be raised and lowered at random, possibly controlled by the room temperature. This was a little alarming! The phone dialing scheme is a bit more complicated than normal, and getting an outside line took some figuring out.

The most frustrating thing about the hotel was that the holder for the detachable showerhead was mounted incorrectly, so we basically had to hold it while showering to avoid soaking the rest of the bathroom.

We booked this hotel because it had a pool which we expected our 2 kids would enjoy. But now we realise that the pool area is geared for adults only and relaxing. We were practically asked to leave because our children were laughing/happy (they were in water). This was very upsetting since there was no sign or warning that you couldn't make noise in the pool area and we are paying guests of the hotel. Also as there is a spa within the facility, everybody else except us were completely naked. If you are uncomfortable with nakedness do not come here. Most users were in their 60's/70's and apparently not booked in the hotel but customers who just go to the spa. I just wished there were some warning so we could have gone somewhere else.

Otherwise, the location is a good base to get around Stuttgart and there is a really good Chinese restaurant and a mall nearby. The rooms are also decent. If you are a business traveller it is a decent place to stay.

A group of us stayed at this hotel for a week while attending a conference at the University of Stuttgart. The rooms were quite nice and the location is pretty decent if you don't want to stay in the city center, as it is very convenient to public transportation (the metro-like system). Staff is friendly and overall experience was good and I would probably stay here again.