I booked our stay in Sanya in this hotel based on two factors: it was part of the higher end of the IHG group and it said “City Center”. However, it turned out that we were disappointed in both counts.
The hotel lobby, though clean, was sparsely furnished. The ceiling was tall and the floor was shinny marble stone, immediately gave us the impression of the Soviet style hotel in Europe’s eastern bloc countries. The main corridor leading to our room in building “B” were slopping down in different stages, making it unsafe for a person (myself) who just recently had knee surgery walking with a cane. The corridor in front of our room was dimly lit.
The room was spacious, and had only tiled floor, making wearing slippers a must in the room. The bed, though just OK, was not with the same comfort standard that I would have expected from a Holiday Inn chain. The bath robes provided were for small persons only. I am a 5”9” male of 180 pounds and the robe would not cover my body (photo attached). Upon calling guest services for a larger size, I was told that was the only size they available!
Bathroom was large with separate shower and tub areas. The hot water was just comfortably warm, never reached the temperature level for an enjoyable shower or bath. The thermostat for A/C was only for decoration: no matter what temperature I set it, the room temperature stayed on 25 degree Celsius for the entire three days (see photo). The ceiling fan had no power connected to it.
The included breakfast was served in buffet style. Every food item in this “hot breakfast” setting was lukewarm or room temperature with the exception of the noodle bar. Coffee and tea were served reluctantly upon request. I learned that on the second morning that the wait staff preferred the customer to get their own drinks, and the automatic coffee machines only had Chinese characters on them. There were no sweetener in the restaurant even upon request. However, the housekeeping had “Equal” packages available in room. Also, the restaurant was on a level six steps down from the entrance with no handicapped ramp.
When I checked in and checked out, there was only one person behind the counter could marginally communicate in English. But, they were all polite enough, and was willing to slow down their Mandarin as requested since I was not a native Mandarin speaker. I had interaction with two persons at the concierge desk and were unimpressed. The first one kept on trying to sell me a car hire package, and the second one was not interested in helping me in finding local shopping districts until I pointedly reminded him that it was his job as a concierge to help customers!
As its name “City Center” implied, I was expecting the hotel to be located in the middle of a business district, near restaurants and local businesses. Yet, in reality, the hotel was located in the middle of a residential area. The closest convenient store was 15 minutes away on foot along dimly lit streets. We had to take cabs to go to restaurants and local shopping malls.
On the evening before we leave, I needed to make a call to our Hong Kong hotel from my mobile phone with a Chinese sim card (and number). I called the customer assistant number for dialing instructions. I was put on hold by the operator for her to ask someone else, and was told to call the phone company instead. Finally, they sent a housekeeping person to my room to figure it out after I chuckled on the phone.
The most positive aspect during our stay was observing the diligence of the bell hops outside the front door who greet every customer pleasantly and did their best to get transportation for us. Those young ladies in front of all restaurants and bar were very friendly and helpful too. We also met up with a very nice front desk person named Joss who was very friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, we only saw her once during our entire stay.
