Le Meridien Qingdao, China [Master Thread]
#16
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 194
Further Impressive Initiative
We have been enjoying our stay at Le Meridien Qingdao the past two weeks, and were very pleasantly surprised by a thoughtful gesture from the management yesterday.
My wife has been filling the regular minibar fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables for the baby (11 months), and evidently the staff had noticed as the rooms manager stopped by to ask if we needed a larger refrigerator.
We said that would be great and within minutes they delivered and installed a large modern refrigerator and freezer. It doesn't even look out of place as the living room of the suite is quite spacious.
I have to say that the quality of the management and staff at this property is genuinely remarkable and well above the typical standard in China.
My wife has been filling the regular minibar fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables for the baby (11 months), and evidently the staff had noticed as the rooms manager stopped by to ask if we needed a larger refrigerator.
We said that would be great and within minutes they delivered and installed a large modern refrigerator and freezer. It doesn't even look out of place as the living room of the suite is quite spacious.
I have to say that the quality of the management and staff at this property is genuinely remarkable and well above the typical standard in China.
#17
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 194
Long-Stay Summary
Further to my earlier posts, we stayed a total of two months at Le Meridien Qingdao.
The General Manager of this property is the finest GM I have encountered over the past 8 years with 300 stays at 220 hotels in 30 countries.
Her attention to staff training and customer service is superb, and this was one of our most enjoyable hotel experiences.
In addition to the VIP welcome and very nice suite upgrade, at departure we received the unique and thoughtful gift of a framed set of photos with baby polarpacific taken during our stay.
Towards the end of the period we had to go to Beijing for a few days to arrange a visa, and were graciously offered to leave all the main luggage in the suite in Qingdao at no charge to avoid the inconvenience of repacking.
That trip had its own story, as we suddenly realised just as we reached the Beijing embassy that we had left all the necessary documents in Qingdao !
Having developed a high level of respect and trust with the club lounge manager, she was able to get the precise package from a suitcase in our suite and courier it to us in time.
By coincidence, the Qingdao GM was also in Beijing the same day and invited us for tea with her predecessor who is now the GM at the Westin Chaoyang.
During our time in Qingdao we visited all the other well-known hotels for F&B --
Shangri-La and Westin are centrally located but the staff at both are less motivated and caring than the friendly attitude of the staff at Le Meridien. Shangri-La does have a very good value 2-for-1 afternoon tea. Intercontinental and Crowne Plaza are both old and have disappointing food.
The new Hyatt is quite nice and is in a lovely beachfront area but fairly removed from the city-centre or any shopping. Le Meridien is also not waterfront but is next door to a large mall with local conveniences.
By the way, a 5-min walk from Le Meridien is a small but remarkable steamed dumpling shop run by a retired chef who studied at a cordon bleu program in Japan. The coatings are top quality and the mushroom fillings and flavours are excellent.
The General Manager of this property is the finest GM I have encountered over the past 8 years with 300 stays at 220 hotels in 30 countries.
Her attention to staff training and customer service is superb, and this was one of our most enjoyable hotel experiences.
In addition to the VIP welcome and very nice suite upgrade, at departure we received the unique and thoughtful gift of a framed set of photos with baby polarpacific taken during our stay.
Towards the end of the period we had to go to Beijing for a few days to arrange a visa, and were graciously offered to leave all the main luggage in the suite in Qingdao at no charge to avoid the inconvenience of repacking.
That trip had its own story, as we suddenly realised just as we reached the Beijing embassy that we had left all the necessary documents in Qingdao !
Having developed a high level of respect and trust with the club lounge manager, she was able to get the precise package from a suitcase in our suite and courier it to us in time.
By coincidence, the Qingdao GM was also in Beijing the same day and invited us for tea with her predecessor who is now the GM at the Westin Chaoyang.
During our time in Qingdao we visited all the other well-known hotels for F&B --
Shangri-La and Westin are centrally located but the staff at both are less motivated and caring than the friendly attitude of the staff at Le Meridien. Shangri-La does have a very good value 2-for-1 afternoon tea. Intercontinental and Crowne Plaza are both old and have disappointing food.
The new Hyatt is quite nice and is in a lovely beachfront area but fairly removed from the city-centre or any shopping. Le Meridien is also not waterfront but is next door to a large mall with local conveniences.
By the way, a 5-min walk from Le Meridien is a small but remarkable steamed dumpling shop run by a retired chef who studied at a cordon bleu program in Japan. The coatings are top quality and the mushroom fillings and flavours are excellent.