Tucked away just outside of central Maidstone, on the fringes of the rural Southeast, The Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel is a hidden gem that packs a punch and has a focus on corporate events with an amazing fifteen meeting spaces, needless to say - our visit here was a busy and exciting one!
Mercure Maidstone is set within 26 acres of incredible private gardens. The attention to detail in the meticulous maintenance of these gardens seeps through into the upkeep of this venue with its corporate feel, that really has so much in store. Well located next to plenty of local landmarks like Leeds Castle, Kent Event Centre, Wildshark Vineyard and many more, keeping your options open for bonus locations, or nearby teambuilding - there’s even a GoApe nearby!
That all said, we can’t imagine why you’d want to be anywhere else in this region, other than right at the Mercure Maidstone for your event. This place was just so functional, with highly skilled and friendly staff who want to see your event succeed. The hotel’s 15 meeting rooms and it’s grounds provide so much opportunity to have whatever kind of event you can dream of - from a huge outdoor festival, to a much smaller meeting in super practical spaces.
Upon entry, the Mercure Maidstone’s lobby is just the other side of a lovely outdoor courtyard that really sets a great vibe for your stay, the hotel and the grounds both visible, even before we were in the building, we were starting to think of all the fantastic ways you could use these spaces.
The lobby itself is small but cozy and bright. The staff on the reception desk were extremely welcoming and extra-friendly. We’re always glad to see venues that prioritise the quality of staff service and the Mercure Maidstone was no different. From the reception team, to the kitchen staff, to the event operations team looking after all the meeting spaces.
There’s 126 Bedrooms in this hotel and we thought they were very smartly decorated. All the rooms we saw had plenty of natural light from impressive windows, really bringing the simply, but sleekly designed rooms to light. The furnishings were modern, and we found the rooms, like the rest of the hotel to be really nice. Our stay overlooked the grounds and lake that are part of the hotel, the view had an extremely peaceful feel to it and really made you feel like you were in your own little corner of the world!
The Mercure Maidstone is also very handily located, with the Channel Tunnel only an hour away in one direction, and London an hour by train in the other, the venue gets the best of both worlds by being serene, quiet and shrouded in nature, whilst also extremely well linked by both rail and road. The nearest train stations are Maidstone East, a few miles down the road by car, with more links, or the smaller Hollingbourne which is walking distance from the hotel!
Address: Mercure Maidstone, Great Danes Hotel, Ashford Road, Hollingbourne, Kent ME17 1RE
Website: https://www.mercuremaidstone.c...
Conference Sales Contact: Emma Latter
Tel: 07775898131
Email: emma.latter@jupiterhotels.com
Distance from nearest airport: Gatwick 45 miles
Distance from nearest railway station: Hollingbourne 1 mile or Bearsted 2.5 miles
Parking: 500 spaces free of charge for meeting clients
Wi-fi: Yes
The Mercure Maidstone isn’t short of fantastic when it comes to facilities, whether it’s their gym, spa, or team building space - it’s all exceptional. And as we toured the hotel, every next stop just seemed to get better and better. We thought we’d start however, with the brill dining options on offer here!
The Mercure Maidstone’s Brasserie has a huge plethora of options for dining - from gourmet takes on British Classics - to amazing, high quality international specialties, not to mention they cook a mean burger. Our favourite thing about the dining experience at the Mercure Maidstone is the outdoor seating, this is a gorgeous space that exudes peace and relaxation. It showcases the stunning grounds of this hotel all while you get to experience their amazing menu! Medway & Lenham rooms are also available for private dining - providing a cosy, intimate yet professional feel that felt perfect for a small corporate dinner.
The Wellness Facilities at this venue really caught us by surprise! Just when you think the team at Mercure can’t pack anything more into this great venue, they push the boundary yet again with an excellent gym, gorgeous 16 metre indoor pool, with a sauna and steam room to really help this hotel tick all the boxes. The gym equipment was fantastic, with spin rooms and over 30 fitness classes per week available to staying guests.
The team emphasised to us when we visited just how much space they have across their 26 acre grounds, and they were so spot on. This place is huge, and facilities wise this might be their strongest point - the outdoor area at the hotel is gigantic and perfect for any kind of festival, mass-meeting outdoor events that you could dream up. The teambuilding opportunities here in the spring and summer months are endless, all the perfectly maintained space is just waiting for the delegates at your next event to experience.
It was almost impossible to whittle down just three meeting space highlights, especially with 15 to choose from! We tried to give a taste of the different kinds of events and experiences that the Mercure Maidstone can offer and facilitate - because there’s so many! All of the conference/meeting rooms are accessed via the Conference centre entrance, the centre has a Reception desk in its hub space - The Conference Lounge, which is perfect for registration.
Meeting Space Highlight: Heart of Kent Suite
With wheelchair access and its own private entrance, the biggest space in the Mercure Maidstone can be tailored to suit your large scale event, no matter the use, whether for weddings, awards dinners or something entirely different, this indoor space has a portable dance floor so that the fun can go wherever you need it to be! We loved the simple decor of this suite, as well as the fact that both ends of the room have a wall mounted projector and screen, making the space extra versatile!
Location: Ground floor
Best use for room: larger conferences, dinners, awards, drinks receptions, exhibitions, etc
Natural light: Yes
Size: 404 square metres
Reception: 360 (includes space for dance floor)
Theatre: 600
Cabaret: 300
Dinner: 400
AV Equipment included: Wall mounted projector and screen at both ends of the suite. Built in speakers in walls to connect that connect to PA System.
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Meeting Space Highlight: Hollingbourne Suite
Slightly smaller than the Heart of Kent but packing the same incredible punch when it comes to value and event possibilities is the Hollingbourne Suite which is perfect conference size This room has something new to offer too, gorgeous views over the hotel’s incredible grounds, meaning guests will be wowed at all times, either by your incredible event or by the stunning scenery!
Location: Ground Floor
Best use for room: smaller conferences, dinners, awards, drinks receptions etc
Natural light: Yes
Size: 207 square meters
Reception: 150
Theatre: 150
Cabaret: 100
Dinner: 160
AV Equipment included: Wall mounted LCD Projector and Screen
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Meeting Space Highlight: Park View
Showcasing a more meeting-room style space is hard when there’s so many fantastic ones at the Mercure Maidstone, but we really liked the Park View Suite for its near floor-to-ceiling windows with again, fantastic views of the grounds and really flexible space that felt like it could handle a bustling classroom or talk with full air conditioning and blackout curtains for those hot summer days where you need to shut out the outside world and get eventing!
Location: Ground Floor
Natural light: Yes
Size: 111 Square Metres
Reception: 70
Theatre: 120
Cabaret: 64
Dinner: 90
AV Equipment included: Wall mounted LCD Projector and Screen
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Summary
So that was the Mercure Maidstone! We Loved it here, what a friendly, welcoming venue that really ticks every single box you could ask for with plenty of meeting space options for your next event. Shoutout to the lovely staff and events team who really made us feel at home and also to the team working behind the scenes here. To keep the gardens and the hotel really well maintained all year round takes some doing. Make sure to keep this place on your radar, especially for a festival type outdoor event or larger indoor event, with the impressive Heart of Kent Suite – you’ll really be impressed.