Sep 22, 2014, 12:48 am
Le Meridien Qingdao, China [Master Thread]
Feb 2, 2010, 11:50 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Programs: Marriott/SPG Lifetime P, IC RA, Hyatt D
Posts: 256
Le Meridien Qingdao, China [Master Thread]
I am going to Qingdao at the end of the month and am currently booked at InterContinental(stayed there couple times and it's great). Just found this new Le Meridien(opened November 2009) and am thinking about checking this property out. The hotel is offering a RMB488 rate per Red Hot Deal promotion.
Wonder whether any FTers have already stayed there. How do they treat platinum members? Will they upgrade platinum to suite from deluxe room? It will be great to stay at either the 80 sq.m. classic suite or the 120 sq.m. Royal Suite for a little over US$70.
I will post a trip report after my stay as well.
Wonder whether any FTers have already stayed there. How do they treat platinum members? Will they upgrade platinum to suite from deluxe room? It will be great to stay at either the 80 sq.m. classic suite or the 120 sq.m. Royal Suite for a little over US$70.
I will post a trip report after my stay as well.
Feb 21, 2010, 7:11 pm
#3
Company Representative - Starwood
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Singapore
Programs: SPG
Posts: 4,002
Thanks TravellerOnline.
I look forward to your report.
[email protected]
Thyetus Lee | Online Forum Coordinator(AP)
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd
I look forward to your report.
[email protected]
Thyetus Lee | Online Forum Coordinator(AP)
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd
Feb 21, 2010, 8:33 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: stl
Programs: AA LT Plat/8.1mm now with 1350 miles left in my account and proud of it.. SPG LT Titanium.
Posts: 3,079
i am a frequent traveler to Qingdao and stay at the Crowne Plaza and occasionally the Holiday Inn by the airport. Look at the location of the Le Meridien in relation to where you have to be. The Intercontinental and the Crowne Plaza are very close and the Le Meridien appears to be quite far away from those hotels. I have passed on it for that reason but would be interested to hear about it. I have to add that the Crowne Plaza is one of the best run hotels I have stayed at.
Feb 22, 2010, 2:52 am
#5
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: China
Programs: UA,DL,CZ
Posts: 860
i am a frequent traveler to Qingdao and stay at the Crowne Plaza and occasionally the Holiday Inn by the airport. Look at the location of the Le Meridien in relation to where you have to be. The Intercontinental and the Crowne Plaza are very close and the Le Meridien appears to be quite far away from those hotels. I have passed on it for that reason but would be interested to hear about it. I have to add that the Crowne Plaza is one of the best run hotels I have stayed at.
Feb 27, 2010, 5:33 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Programs: Marriott/SPG Lifetime P, IC RA, Hyatt D
Posts: 256
Stay report on February 27, 2010
Arrival
------
Taxi from airport is fairly quick, about 20 minutes. The hotel is in the newly designated CBD area (soon-to-be expensive area) adjacent to the newly built Wanda Shopping Mall. Unlike InterContinental, Crown Plaza and Shangri-la, there is not seaview at this hotel and much much to see in the neighborhood. There is construction going on surround the hotel and will remain that way for a while, I guess. My first Impression of the hotel is -- Quite nice.
Check-in
--------
I called the hotel yesterday inquiring about the upgrade policy, as my reservation still shows the lowest category room I booked at SPG website at only about $70 net(a steal per Asia Red Hot Sale). I was told that they will upgrade platinum to suite subject to availability, but couldn't confirm the upgrade yet. But when I arrived at the front desk, a corner suite has already been assigned to me. Check in only takes a minute or two. Front desk staff was very friendly and gave me two tickets for the Qingdao Beer Museum.
Guest Relation Manager escorted me to the elevator and gave me a nice thumb size disk with leather cover. Nice welcome gift.
Room
-----
Nice two room corner suite with separate guest bathroom, walking closet, two sofas, 2 flat TVs and one small TV in the bathroom facing the bathtub(All TVs made by Haier which is headquartered in Qingdao), Sony DVD player. Cool and Fashion design. It's the classic suite on the SPG website. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...sId=1002978223. At InterContinental Qingdao, upgrade policy for RA is a premier room (a 59 sq. meter two room junior suite) or a premier aqua room (a 79 sq. meter room including a 30 sq. meter patio with a jacuzzi -- nice in the summer). At this time of the year, the corner suite at Le Meridien beats the premier room at InterCon.
Welcome desserts, snack and fruit already in the room.
From my room, I saw 6 tennis courts across the street. It was sunny, and I have my racket with me. After two hours of tennis, I relaxed in the bathtub watching Winter Olympics while enjoying the sunset.
Executive Lounge & Breakfast
----------------------------
I was the only person in the lounge at happy hour (4 months old hotel in winter low season). The lounge is not that big. But happy hour spread is quite nice: hot platters even include scallop and Japanese seafood.
Lounge staff are very friendly. One lounge staff talked to me for almost an hour offering all kinds of advices about local restaurants, things to do, etc. They asked me whether they can take my picture for training other staff in the hotel, so that they will recognize me. I politely declined.
Club floor guests can have breakfast either at the lounge or Last Recipe restaurant on the first floor. The buffet spread at Last Recipe is fairly generous. It has more than the usual share of Japanese food, probably because there are quite a few Japanese companies in Qingdao.
Service
-------
Service is great, warm and friendly. One of the platinum (executive club) benefits is one piece clothing pressing. 10 minutes after I got into my room at about 11am, house keeping came in to check the air conditioning. I gave her my jacket and she said: We will return this in the afternoon. Is that Ok? Sure enough, after I came back from tennis, the jacket is already hanging in the closet.
The hotel staff kept asking me about my impression of the hotel and opinions to improve the service. So I came up three things (not that I am dissatisfied with the hotel):
1. The signs in the elevators are a bit confusing. They are not aligned to a specific floor and used a line to link several floors to a sign. Unfortunately, the dim lighting in the elevators makes the lines difficult to read.
2. There is no sign to the Executive Lounge after one gets off the elevator at 29th floor.
3. One strange thing is that although the adjacent mall is linked to the hotel, there is no way to walk to the mall inside the hotel. You have to walk out of the hotel to get to the mall. I asked why and was told that they did this on purpose for security reasons(A non-issue, in my view, with key accessed elevators). Well, there is not much the hotel can do on this at this point.
Again what I told them, the hotel staff came back to me with half an hour and told me that they will make sure the signs be corrected. Very responsive.
Overall, this is a nice new hotel with friendly staff. Unless I want the ocean view, I would come back to stay here anytime.
Arrival
------
Taxi from airport is fairly quick, about 20 minutes. The hotel is in the newly designated CBD area (soon-to-be expensive area) adjacent to the newly built Wanda Shopping Mall. Unlike InterContinental, Crown Plaza and Shangri-la, there is not seaview at this hotel and much much to see in the neighborhood. There is construction going on surround the hotel and will remain that way for a while, I guess. My first Impression of the hotel is -- Quite nice.
Check-in
--------
I called the hotel yesterday inquiring about the upgrade policy, as my reservation still shows the lowest category room I booked at SPG website at only about $70 net(a steal per Asia Red Hot Sale). I was told that they will upgrade platinum to suite subject to availability, but couldn't confirm the upgrade yet. But when I arrived at the front desk, a corner suite has already been assigned to me. Check in only takes a minute or two. Front desk staff was very friendly and gave me two tickets for the Qingdao Beer Museum.
Guest Relation Manager escorted me to the elevator and gave me a nice thumb size disk with leather cover. Nice welcome gift.
Room
-----
Nice two room corner suite with separate guest bathroom, walking closet, two sofas, 2 flat TVs and one small TV in the bathroom facing the bathtub(All TVs made by Haier which is headquartered in Qingdao), Sony DVD player. Cool and Fashion design. It's the classic suite on the SPG website. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...sId=1002978223. At InterContinental Qingdao, upgrade policy for RA is a premier room (a 59 sq. meter two room junior suite) or a premier aqua room (a 79 sq. meter room including a 30 sq. meter patio with a jacuzzi -- nice in the summer). At this time of the year, the corner suite at Le Meridien beats the premier room at InterCon.
Welcome desserts, snack and fruit already in the room.
From my room, I saw 6 tennis courts across the street. It was sunny, and I have my racket with me. After two hours of tennis, I relaxed in the bathtub watching Winter Olympics while enjoying the sunset.
Executive Lounge & Breakfast
----------------------------
I was the only person in the lounge at happy hour (4 months old hotel in winter low season). The lounge is not that big. But happy hour spread is quite nice: hot platters even include scallop and Japanese seafood.
Lounge staff are very friendly. One lounge staff talked to me for almost an hour offering all kinds of advices about local restaurants, things to do, etc. They asked me whether they can take my picture for training other staff in the hotel, so that they will recognize me. I politely declined.
Club floor guests can have breakfast either at the lounge or Last Recipe restaurant on the first floor. The buffet spread at Last Recipe is fairly generous. It has more than the usual share of Japanese food, probably because there are quite a few Japanese companies in Qingdao.
Service
-------
Service is great, warm and friendly. One of the platinum (executive club) benefits is one piece clothing pressing. 10 minutes after I got into my room at about 11am, house keeping came in to check the air conditioning. I gave her my jacket and she said: We will return this in the afternoon. Is that Ok? Sure enough, after I came back from tennis, the jacket is already hanging in the closet.
The hotel staff kept asking me about my impression of the hotel and opinions to improve the service. So I came up three things (not that I am dissatisfied with the hotel):
1. The signs in the elevators are a bit confusing. They are not aligned to a specific floor and used a line to link several floors to a sign. Unfortunately, the dim lighting in the elevators makes the lines difficult to read.
2. There is no sign to the Executive Lounge after one gets off the elevator at 29th floor.
3. One strange thing is that although the adjacent mall is linked to the hotel, there is no way to walk to the mall inside the hotel. You have to walk out of the hotel to get to the mall. I asked why and was told that they did this on purpose for security reasons(A non-issue, in my view, with key accessed elevators). Well, there is not much the hotel can do on this at this point.
Again what I told them, the hotel staff came back to me with half an hour and told me that they will make sure the signs be corrected. Very responsive.
Overall, this is a nice new hotel with friendly staff. Unless I want the ocean view, I would come back to stay here anytime.
Last edited by TravellerOnline; Feb 28, 2010 at 12:32 am
Aug 4, 2010, 4:33 am
#7
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 94
I just completed a stay here and everything was perfect. The only drawback is the location which is not close enough to the sea but I guess it's more of a business hotel. Received a nice 2 room suite with plat including lounge access. I didn't see any construction around the hotel.
Jasmine Zhang at the club lounge was very attentive and friendly at the club lounge. She made sure everything was perfect during our lounge visit.
Breakfast in the lobby restaurant is great and on par with many nice *W hotels. Great selection including japanese, chinese, western, pastry etc.
Hors d’oeuvres at the lounge between 5:30 and 7:30 is also decent with comp drinks and snacks.
This is definately the hotel to stay if you are not crazy about ocean view.
Jasmine Zhang at the club lounge was very attentive and friendly at the club lounge. She made sure everything was perfect during our lounge visit.
Breakfast in the lobby restaurant is great and on par with many nice *W hotels. Great selection including japanese, chinese, western, pastry etc.
Hors d’oeuvres at the lounge between 5:30 and 7:30 is also decent with comp drinks and snacks.
This is definately the hotel to stay if you are not crazy about ocean view.
Stay report on February 27, 2010
Arrival
------
Taxi from airport is fairly quick, about 20 minutes. The hotel is in the newly designated CBD area (soon-to-be expensive area) adjacent to the newly built Wanda Shopping Mall. Unlike InterContinental, Crown Plaza and Shangri-la, there is not seaview at this hotel and much much to see in the neighborhood. There is construction going on surround the hotel and will remain that way for a while, I guess. My first Impression of the hotel is -- Quite nice.
Check-in
--------
I called the hotel yesterday inquiring about the upgrade policy, as my reservation still shows the lowest category room I booked at SPG website at only about $70 net(a steal per Asia Red Hot Sale). I was told that they will upgrade platinum to suite subject to availability, but couldn't confirm the upgrade yet. But when I arrived at the front desk, a corner suite has already been assigned to me. Check in only takes a minute or two. Front desk staff was very friendly and gave me two tickets for the Qingdao Beer Museum.
Guest Relation Manager escorted me to the elevator and gave me a nice thumb size disk with leather cover. Nice welcome gift.
Room
-----
Nice two room corner suite with separate guest bathroom, walking closet, two sofas, 2 flat TVs and one small TV in the bathroom facing the bathtub(All TVs made by Haier which is headquartered in Qingdao), Sony DVD player. Cool and Fashion design. It's the classic suite on the SPG website. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...sId=1002978223. At InterContinental Qingdao, upgrade policy for RA is a premier room (a 59 sq. meter two room junior suite) or a premier aqua room (a 79 sq. meter room including a 30 sq. meter patio with a jacuzzi -- nice in the summer). At this time of the year, the corner suite at Le Meridien beats the premier room at InterCon.
Welcome desserts, snack and fruit already in the room.
From my room, I saw 6 tennis courts across the street. It was sunny, and I have my racket with me. After two hours of tennis, I relaxed in the bathtub watching Winter Olympics while enjoying the sunset.
Executive Lounge & Breakfast
----------------------------
I was the only person in the lounge at happy hour (4 months old hotel in winter low season). The lounge is not that big. But happy hour spread is quite nice: hot platters even include scallop and Japanese seafood.
Lounge staff are very friendly. One lounge staff talked to me for almost an hour offering all kinds of advices about local restaurants, things to do, etc. They asked me whether they can take my picture for training other staff in the hotel, so that they will recognize me. I politely declined.
Club floor guests can have breakfast either at the lounge or Last Recipe restaurant on the first floor. The buffet spread at Last Recipe is fairly generous. It has more than the usual share of Japanese food, probably because there are quite a few Japanese companies in Qingdao.
Service
-------
Service is great, warm and friendly. One of the platinum (executive club) benefits is one piece clothing pressing. 10 minutes after I got into my room at about 11am, house keeping came in to check the air conditioning. I gave her my jacket and she said: We will return this in the afternoon. Is that Ok? Sure enough, after I came back from tennis, the jacket is already hanging in the closet.
The hotel staff kept asking me about my impression of the hotel and opinions to improve the service. So I came up three things (not that I am dissatisfied with the hotel):
1. The signs in the elevators are a bit confusing. They are not aligned to a specific floor and used a line to link several floors to a sign. Unfortunately, the dim lighting in the elevators makes the lines difficult to read.
2. There is no sign to the Executive Lounge after one gets off the elevator at 29th floor.
3. One strange thing is that although the adjacent mall is linked to the hotel, there is no way to walk to the mall inside the hotel. You have to walk out of the hotel to get to the mall. I asked why and was told that they did this on purpose for security reasons(A non-issue, in my view, with key accessed elevators). Well, there is not much the hotel can do on this at this point.
Again what I told them, the hotel staff came back to me with half an hour and told me that they will make sure the signs be corrected. Very responsive.
Overall, this is a nice new hotel with friendly staff. Unless I want the ocean view, I would come back to stay here anytime.
Arrival
------
Taxi from airport is fairly quick, about 20 minutes. The hotel is in the newly designated CBD area (soon-to-be expensive area) adjacent to the newly built Wanda Shopping Mall. Unlike InterContinental, Crown Plaza and Shangri-la, there is not seaview at this hotel and much much to see in the neighborhood. There is construction going on surround the hotel and will remain that way for a while, I guess. My first Impression of the hotel is -- Quite nice.
Check-in
--------
I called the hotel yesterday inquiring about the upgrade policy, as my reservation still shows the lowest category room I booked at SPG website at only about $70 net(a steal per Asia Red Hot Sale). I was told that they will upgrade platinum to suite subject to availability, but couldn't confirm the upgrade yet. But when I arrived at the front desk, a corner suite has already been assigned to me. Check in only takes a minute or two. Front desk staff was very friendly and gave me two tickets for the Qingdao Beer Museum.
Guest Relation Manager escorted me to the elevator and gave me a nice thumb size disk with leather cover. Nice welcome gift.
Room
-----
Nice two room corner suite with separate guest bathroom, walking closet, two sofas, 2 flat TVs and one small TV in the bathroom facing the bathtub(All TVs made by Haier which is headquartered in Qingdao), Sony DVD player. Cool and Fashion design. It's the classic suite on the SPG website. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...sId=1002978223. At InterContinental Qingdao, upgrade policy for RA is a premier room (a 59 sq. meter two room junior suite) or a premier aqua room (a 79 sq. meter room including a 30 sq. meter patio with a jacuzzi -- nice in the summer). At this time of the year, the corner suite at Le Meridien beats the premier room at InterCon.
Welcome desserts, snack and fruit already in the room.
From my room, I saw 6 tennis courts across the street. It was sunny, and I have my racket with me. After two hours of tennis, I relaxed in the bathtub watching Winter Olympics while enjoying the sunset.
Executive Lounge & Breakfast
----------------------------
I was the only person in the lounge at happy hour (4 months old hotel in winter low season). The lounge is not that big. But happy hour spread is quite nice: hot platters even include scallop and Japanese seafood.
Lounge staff are very friendly. One lounge staff talked to me for almost an hour offering all kinds of advices about local restaurants, things to do, etc. They asked me whether they can take my picture for training other staff in the hotel, so that they will recognize me. I politely declined.
Club floor guests can have breakfast either at the lounge or Last Recipe restaurant on the first floor. The buffet spread at Last Recipe is fairly generous. It has more than the usual share of Japanese food, probably because there are quite a few Japanese companies in Qingdao.
Service
-------
Service is great, warm and friendly. One of the platinum (executive club) benefits is one piece clothing pressing. 10 minutes after I got into my room at about 11am, house keeping came in to check the air conditioning. I gave her my jacket and she said: We will return this in the afternoon. Is that Ok? Sure enough, after I came back from tennis, the jacket is already hanging in the closet.
The hotel staff kept asking me about my impression of the hotel and opinions to improve the service. So I came up three things (not that I am dissatisfied with the hotel):
1. The signs in the elevators are a bit confusing. They are not aligned to a specific floor and used a line to link several floors to a sign. Unfortunately, the dim lighting in the elevators makes the lines difficult to read.
2. There is no sign to the Executive Lounge after one gets off the elevator at 29th floor.
3. One strange thing is that although the adjacent mall is linked to the hotel, there is no way to walk to the mall inside the hotel. You have to walk out of the hotel to get to the mall. I asked why and was told that they did this on purpose for security reasons(A non-issue, in my view, with key accessed elevators). Well, there is not much the hotel can do on this at this point.
Again what I told them, the hotel staff came back to me with half an hour and told me that they will make sure the signs be corrected. Very responsive.
Overall, this is a nice new hotel with friendly staff. Unless I want the ocean view, I would come back to stay here anytime.
Oct 17, 2010, 9:31 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: SPG
Posts: 76
Le Meridien, Qingdao, China
It is the first Starwood hotel at Qingdao, China. It opened in December 2009. (See below for photos)
Location: It is around 3km from the busy Hong Kong Zhong Road (about RMB10 by taxi). There is a shopping mall by the side where you can find a supermarket, cinema, restaurants, McDonald, KFC and Starbucks. A well known chinese restaurant serving seafood is just opposite the road. The city library is also not far away.
Transportation: 30 mins from the airport at RMB100 (inclusive of the highway toll) by taxi. Easy to catch a taxi. There are also bus stops nearby.
Availability of Suites: It seems that there is at least 1 suite per floor.
Platinum Upgrade: I was upgraded to a suite with a separate sitting room for a 3 nights stay.
Club Lounge: At 29/F. Turn left when you reached the corridor leading to the rooms. There is no sign showing the whereabout of the Lounge at the lift lobby. It occupies around 1/4 of 29/F. The setting looks too much like a restaurant than a club lounge. Do not expect too much for the breakfast. Beverage varities is good for the happy hour. The staff there is very helpful! ^^^
Breakfast: Had not tried the breakfast at the restaurant at G/F. Too many people there!
Restaurant: Apart from the all day dining restaurant at G/F. There is a Chinese one and a Japanese one at 1/F. I only checked the menu of the Japanese restaurant; not expensive but I believe the quality is not good.
Fitness Centre: With a large and pretty well equipped gym. There is also an aerobic room. A very large changing room with jacuzzi (one with hot water and another one for cold water). Sauna room and Steam bath room is also available.
Swimming Pool: One of the best indoor swimming pools I had seen. The only draw back is that it is too dark.
The Suite: A two-room suite (with separate sitting room). Two LCD TVs. There are input connections for the TV at the sitting room (by the side of the desk). No in-room wireless lan. Guest washroom.
Internet: Free for Platinum member for whatever speed you choose.
Starwood Previlege Card: yes for all outlets.
Stay and Point posting: Fast. All posted the next day after the stay.
BRG Points posting: Fast. Posted the next day after the stay.
Location: It is around 3km from the busy Hong Kong Zhong Road (about RMB10 by taxi). There is a shopping mall by the side where you can find a supermarket, cinema, restaurants, McDonald, KFC and Starbucks. A well known chinese restaurant serving seafood is just opposite the road. The city library is also not far away.
Transportation: 30 mins from the airport at RMB100 (inclusive of the highway toll) by taxi. Easy to catch a taxi. There are also bus stops nearby.
Availability of Suites: It seems that there is at least 1 suite per floor.
Platinum Upgrade: I was upgraded to a suite with a separate sitting room for a 3 nights stay.
Club Lounge: At 29/F. Turn left when you reached the corridor leading to the rooms. There is no sign showing the whereabout of the Lounge at the lift lobby. It occupies around 1/4 of 29/F. The setting looks too much like a restaurant than a club lounge. Do not expect too much for the breakfast. Beverage varities is good for the happy hour. The staff there is very helpful! ^^^
Breakfast: Had not tried the breakfast at the restaurant at G/F. Too many people there!
Restaurant: Apart from the all day dining restaurant at G/F. There is a Chinese one and a Japanese one at 1/F. I only checked the menu of the Japanese restaurant; not expensive but I believe the quality is not good.
Fitness Centre: With a large and pretty well equipped gym. There is also an aerobic room. A very large changing room with jacuzzi (one with hot water and another one for cold water). Sauna room and Steam bath room is also available.
Swimming Pool: One of the best indoor swimming pools I had seen. The only draw back is that it is too dark.
The Suite: A two-room suite (with separate sitting room). Two LCD TVs. There are input connections for the TV at the sitting room (by the side of the desk). No in-room wireless lan. Guest washroom.
Internet: Free for Platinum member for whatever speed you choose.
Starwood Previlege Card: yes for all outlets.
Stay and Point posting: Fast. All posted the next day after the stay.
BRG Points posting: Fast. Posted the next day after the stay.
Last edited by mastiff; Oct 18, 2010 at 8:02 am
Oct 18, 2010, 7:58 am
#10
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: SPG
Posts: 76
The Outside View (from 19th Floor)
The horizontal road is YanJi Road. Hotel carpark at the bottom of the photo.
The building with blue roof top is the Chinese restaurant I mentioned. It is on the opposite side of the road.
The Swimming Pool
The Changing Room
Steambath Room
Sauna Room
The Jacuzzi
The Gym
Restaurant Promotion Materials
Platinum Member Benefits (Club Floor Benefits)
The horizontal road is YanJi Road. Hotel carpark at the bottom of the photo.
The building with blue roof top is the Chinese restaurant I mentioned. It is on the opposite side of the road.
The Swimming Pool
The Changing Room
Steambath Room
Sauna Room
The Jacuzzi
The Gym
Restaurant Promotion Materials
Platinum Member Benefits (Club Floor Benefits)
Oct 8, 2012, 11:43 am
#13
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: MSP
Programs: DL Diamond MM, SPG Platinum, HH Gold, Marriott Silver, National Exec Elite
Posts: 226
Stayed here twice in the last 12 months. Both times only 2 nights on business. My takeaways:
Plat upgraded both times to very large, cool, suites. Huge bathrooms, nice views (though not of the sea). Overall couldn't have been more happy w/ the rooms I was given.
Excellent gym and pool, though a/c was not turned up as high as I would have liked, and could not find anyone to make adjustments.
Exec lounge had an OK spread (by China standards) both in morning and evening. Full breakfast in restaurant was a very big spread. Lounge (as I recall) was quite spacious and not overcrowded.
Check-in/Check-out was slow, and attempt to check in at lounge was rebuffed. Non-status colleague felt he was being nickled and dimed on a few things, and didn't have a great interaction w/ FD.
As to restaurants, I was traveling out of town so did not have a chance to explore the neighborhood too extensively. I'm pretty familiar with the Wanda malls, and they would typically have a good array of Chinese options, and western fast food (KFC and Starbucks most likely). It did seem fairly quiet in immediate area, and getting cabs seemed to be a bit of an issue.
Have not stayed at the Shangri-La, so don't have a comparison point. I think there used to be a Sheraton under development next to Shangri-La... wonder if that's coming along. Certainly a better location.
Plat upgraded both times to very large, cool, suites. Huge bathrooms, nice views (though not of the sea). Overall couldn't have been more happy w/ the rooms I was given.
Excellent gym and pool, though a/c was not turned up as high as I would have liked, and could not find anyone to make adjustments.
Exec lounge had an OK spread (by China standards) both in morning and evening. Full breakfast in restaurant was a very big spread. Lounge (as I recall) was quite spacious and not overcrowded.
Check-in/Check-out was slow, and attempt to check in at lounge was rebuffed. Non-status colleague felt he was being nickled and dimed on a few things, and didn't have a great interaction w/ FD.
As to restaurants, I was traveling out of town so did not have a chance to explore the neighborhood too extensively. I'm pretty familiar with the Wanda malls, and they would typically have a good array of Chinese options, and western fast food (KFC and Starbucks most likely). It did seem fairly quiet in immediate area, and getting cabs seemed to be a bit of an issue.
Have not stayed at the Shangri-La, so don't have a comparison point. I think there used to be a Sheraton under development next to Shangri-La... wonder if that's coming along. Certainly a better location.
May 8, 2013, 10:45 pm
#14
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: SPG Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, AA Plat Pro, Delta Plat
Posts: 35
Best spg hotels to stay in in Qingdao
Hi, I'm making a personal trip to Qingdao next month and wonder what are the best starwood hotels to stay at in the city. What part of city is best to stay to get a good feel of the city and see the sights and to dos of Qingdao?
Le Meridien looks very nice but also curious to hear about the Sheraton and the Four Points. Wanted to ask if anyone can share their experiences on SPG in Qingdao?
Thanks very much in advance!
Le Meridien looks very nice but also curious to hear about the Sheraton and the Four Points. Wanted to ask if anyone can share their experiences on SPG in Qingdao?
Thanks very much in advance!
Aug 26, 2014, 10:59 pm
#15
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 194
Personalised Reception and Professional Service
We arrived at Le Meridien Qingdao a few days ago and received a very warm reception -- greeted in person by the GM Bertie Xie and her team of senior managers for Guest Relations, Executive Club, and F&B ... and upgraded to a spacious corner suite with good views.
We have travelled extensively (2000+ nights around the world over the past 8 years, including 400+ nights at Starwood properties), and this was an exceptionally high-standard of hospitality and recognition of program status.
The Guest Relations manager, Joy, and the Executive Club manager, Jacqueline, are extremely professional with excellent English. They provided not only the requested local information but each time went a step further to pro-actively call ahead and print out the useful data. They had also prepared properly in advance of our arrival to know (from other Starwood hotel stays) such personalised preferences as which particular teas we like in the morning and evening.
These examples of motivated initiative are very refreshing and reflect well on the experience and training by the GM and her predecessor, compared with the level at many other 5* hotels in China.
The property has a convenient location next door to a modern shopping mall and is only a short ride or 30-min walk to the Qingdao waterfront and tourist attractions.
We have travelled extensively (2000+ nights around the world over the past 8 years, including 400+ nights at Starwood properties), and this was an exceptionally high-standard of hospitality and recognition of program status.
The Guest Relations manager, Joy, and the Executive Club manager, Jacqueline, are extremely professional with excellent English. They provided not only the requested local information but each time went a step further to pro-actively call ahead and print out the useful data. They had also prepared properly in advance of our arrival to know (from other Starwood hotel stays) such personalised preferences as which particular teas we like in the morning and evening.
These examples of motivated initiative are very refreshing and reflect well on the experience and training by the GM and her predecessor, compared with the level at many other 5* hotels in China.
The property has a convenient location next door to a modern shopping mall and is only a short ride or 30-min walk to the Qingdao waterfront and tourist attractions.