The Grand Mansion, a Luxury Collection Hotel - Nanjing, China [Master Thread]
Sep 27, 2015, 9:17 pm
The Grand Mansion, a Luxury Collection Hotel - Nanjing, China [Master Thread]
I used an SNA and was confirmed into I think one of its Grand Suite. When I arrived past 7 in the evening, my room wasn't ready, and it took more than 40 minutes from my arrival to entering the room.
They had me wait in the lobby while the room is cleaned and prepared. About 20 minutes into the wait the front desk offered me to enjoy their "happy hour," which is supposed to have already ended for the day. I didn't really want anything except my room but thought I could try one of the luxury collections' cocktails and followed to the traveler's library. This offer is however declined by the lady working in the traveler's library lounge, "I can only serve you soft drinks, anything in these two pages (points the menu) because the happy hour has past." The menu lists affogato so I asked if they actually have that, and the answer was an unsurprising no. So, in the end I just got a glass of water. I find it particularly unpleasant to be offered something by one staff and then got declined right away and being totally unapologetic.
The room itself is really spacious and everything is new, which in China means there is a strong chemical smell and maybe slightly toxic. When I entered the room all windows were opened for me to close. Then there is so many details were wrong about the room.
See how this light is at an angle?
https://imgur.com/a/BF9GYn6
The same happens to wall sockets, light switches, etc. And at 3-month new, the switches are already sticky and some are not working -- the curtains are motor controlled and I couldn't open them in the living room because its buttons won't push. The shower doesn't drain well and becomes a little pond; at least the shower is the largest I have seen in a hotel, so it took awhile to fill up.
I was also told that they provide afternoon tea in the lounge. I didn't inquire the details because I was leaving early the next day. From my experience in the breakfast served afterwards, I don't think I have missed much.
The breakfast is a buffet with a large selection of both Western and Chinese choices, including 鸭血粉丝汤 (Duck blood and vermicelli soup), a traditional delicacy of the city. The food quality though is very unsatisfying. I'd recommend spending the money just about anywhere else in the city.
The pool and gym looked okay. Then I saw someone's charging a phone and downloading Mission Impossible on a laptop. There were no guest utilizing the facilities when I visited, so I can only imagine it was people working at the hotel.
The only plus side is the bed is really comfortable, probably memory foam, and the bath tub is also very sizable.
I think it will take a very long while before I will want to return.
Last edited by alex7c; Jun 9, 2018 at 12:30 am
Oct 24, 2017, 4:50 pm
Jun 20, 2018, 8:59 pm
The Grand Mansion LC Hotel
Nanjing, CN
Grand Mansion (14 Photos)
The Grand Mansion LC Hotel
Not much information about this hotel so thought I'd do a review.
Check In
Fairly painless. Used the hotel's BMW for an airport pickup which was pretty smooth. Although for the price it would have been nice if they could find a closer spot to the park the car and it was quite a hike from arrivals to the car's location.
No inroom check in was offered but wasn't an issue. Checked in by a truly superb staff member who sort of became my contact for all hotel/general questions. Platinum benefits clearly explained and escorted to my room on the 6th Floor.
Welcome amenity:
Platinum benefits included:
Full buffet breakfast
Access to happy hour in the library (5.30 pm to 7.30 pm)
500 points
Room
This was only a three night stay and I normally prefer to save my SNA for longer stays but really wanted a room with the larger balcony (but to cheap to pay for it) so applied them to a Grand Suite.
The Grand Suite was on the 6th Floor which is the highest floor in this low rise building. A very nice size with main bedroom, bathroom, seperate living room, guest toilet and nice sized balacony terrace.
Nothing about the suite was "wow" but it had a pratical layout, comfotable useful furniture and well maintained. Desk was a good size and the bookshelf setup containing the TV was a good take on the library setup in downstairs.
Bathroom
Living Area
Bedroom
However the main reason I wanted this room was the terrace. It was extremly pleasant sitting outside during the barmy summer evenings:
Service
Mixed. The agent who checked me was excellent - a credit to herself, the hotel & Starwood - and sorted out any ongoing questions & assistance I needed. Other staff were quite good, but a significant language barrier did exist. I don't expect everyone to speak English but a problem with some of the staff here is that they speak a little English so don't refer you to a more fluent speaker but try to help you themselves. This is a positive because the staff here certainly are very friendly and want to help but translation issues led to me being often given incorrect information.
So, appreciated the enthusiasm but would have much preferred if they just referred me to another colleague. Emails to the concierge desk were never answered.
Dining
Poor.
Breakfast was in the atrium resturant which was fairly average. I also had another meal here which was again fairly average. Not a fan of this place.
Also had a traditional Nanjing meal of a, um, Club Sandwich in the library which was again fairly average.
Wasn't overly impressed with the happy hour selection - but there is certainly a lot of hot meat if that is your thing. Rarely drink so didn't pay any attention to the wines etc on offer. I had to specifically request a coke zero as only full strength was offered - this as request was always happily met. Note minibar is strictly pepsi but bars/restaurants etc are still coke based
Location
For the tourist perfect. Plenty of museums, galleries, restaurants & shops in the near vincinty. A short walk to a subway station with two major lines and very central if taking a taxi.
A nice lowrise building set amongst lots of greenery - the location and setting of the hotel was perfect
Overall
Some claim to prefer the feats of strength but we all know that ultimately it is about the airing of grievances and I have a few
The service in the restaurants was really quite poor
The branded toiletries in the hotel, in my humble opinion, were vile to the point of being unusable - very personal opinion of course.
No matter how hard I tried I simply couldn't stop the room being infested with mosquitoes. Downside of the outdoor area - but I always checked and was cautious before opening the door so started to suspect they were getting in another way.
The real kicker, and something that almost pushed me to a not recommended was the heat. My entire time in Nanjing I was hot. The temperature outdoors was generally around 35 degrees (Celsius). So you'd get back to the room where the temperature simply never dropped below 26. I even did all the right things - had the fans on maximum, closed the curtains to block the sun but that was the best the temperature would get to. Well to be technically correct at about 2.00 am one morning the room hit a low of 24.6. The minibar also didn't really cool anything - so I was also returning to a hot room to drink warm water. Night was particularly unpleasant.
I think Billy Idol wrote about this:
Despite this I liked the hotel. The joy of sitting outside watching twilight descend on the city, the comfort of the room and the genuine warmth and assistance from the staff really won me over. I also really liked the look and design of the hotel's public areas.
General Photos
Standard platinum upgrade is often to these deluxe balcony rooms:
Entrance
Part of the library/lounge area:
Nice outdoor sitting area:
