I stayed here in late January for a few nights, and used my last Suite certificate to upgrade.

After reading about the problem with the Concierge, I was a bit concerned about the stay, but am always willing to be a guinea pig.

The cheapest rate I could find was the prepaid rate of 790 RMB+ per night.

Upon arriving by taxi from the Louhu/Lowu station, I was promptly greeted, and welcomed by every employee in sight. I'd guess I was welcomed by at least a dozen people by the time I made it up to the 33rd floor lobby.

I had to wait a couple of minutes to check in, but they were fairly busy at the time. They had me sign the credit card receipt from when I made the reservation.

They then told me I was being upgraded to a suite since I was a Diamond. I corrected her saying that I had used an upgrade certificate. She explained about the 2500 points for the club being closed, and told me that I would have full breakfast in the restaurant. She also said that since I had a suite booked, I would get use of the Lobby Lounge for free non-alcoholic drinks while it was open. And during 5pm-8pm, would get alcoholic drinks and food for free.

I was shown the room, on the 19th floor, #1906. This is a larger suite, I'm not sure if it's the 900 or 1200 sf one. It has a double door entry, full living room, work desk and dining room. And an almost full kitchen as well, with full sized fridge, sink and an oven and some sort of super duper coffee machine, countertop with bar stools.

The welcome amenity was the same 4 red apples everyone else seems to have gotten. A hand written card, as well.

The bedroom was good sized, with a full sized walk through closet, huge shower with room for 15 of your closest friends. The opaque sliding doors were interesting, but I hope they didn't pay too much money for them.

I really enjoyed the bed. Good quality, with 4 pillows. Firm, but comfortable. Nice comforter as well. Nice flatscreen.

Things I dislike about the room:

Too many light switches. Switches for the curtains near the TV. Master switches. Dimmer switches. And some switches aren't near what they control at all.

For instance, there is a light in the shower. The switch is not in the bathroom. When they turned the bed down, they turned all lights on. When going to bed I couldn't figure out how to turn the light off. After basically trying every light switch in the bedroom, I finally find a night light switch that controlled it. The next night, it was the night light switch on the opposite side of the bed.

The toilets got easily clogged up. These type has some of the smallest "entry" points I saw.

Wifi is nonexistent in the bedroom.

Things I liked:

Nice layout of the room. Nice flat screen tvs. A selection of DVDs and CDs were in the room. Yoga DVDs and yoga mat in closet.

The almost full kitchen was a nice touch. If I had been staying longer, or having a party in the room, it would have been perfect. Plates, cups and silverware too.

The first night I went up to the Lobby Lounge for drinks and some food. When I first sat down, I explained that I had a suite and asked which drinks and food were included.

The English level of some of the staff is pretty low. They didn't understand at all what I was asking, but soon brought over a manager of some sort. He told me I could have anything from the menu, drinks and food. I was a bit amazed by this. Luckily, I rarely drink, so they saved a lot of money. In fact they have some Cognac that is 1800 rmb a glass, and I doubt they'd let me sip on those all night.

However, the 8 or so meal options, plus deserts were good. The only problem being the hamburger. I ordered it on two occasions, and it was bloody raw, both times. The first time I had taken some bites before I noticed. They just took it away that time. the second time, I of course, check it as soon as it came. This time I had ordered it medium well, but it was super rare.

At least this time they brought it back, and it was cooked nicely. The first night, the burger was extra thick, the second time it was two patties (but still not right), and the third time (redo) was a single patty.

Everything else here was quite nice. The french fries were superb, in fact, I'd rate them the best I've ever eaten outside the US. I really like the carrot juice they have, and the desserts are pretty nice too.

The downsides are the items must be coming from another kitchen, as the prep time was a bit long. Also, there are only three non-smoking tables, and of course, these are adjacent to the smoking tables. At least they don't normally have ash trays out on tables, so this was only a problem on my last night.

Although some staff members english isn't great, they do try really hard. I guess I found it hard to believe that they didn't know what Ketchup was.

Upon returning to my room, I found the the door to my room not latched. Someone obviously was in the room, and didn't make sure the door was closed properly. This is a real pet peeve of mine. It's not like I've got millions of dollars of jewels in the room, but if a hotel employee goes in the room, they should certainly make sure the door is locked properly. It was fully 1" open, where you could see the latch .

I had my valuables in the safe, and did a quick look see to see if anything was missing. Everything looked fine, but I did call guest services, but just got a "we'll tell the asst manager about it" statement.

In going into the bedroom, I noticed a larger glass jar with something that looked a bit feces-like in it. I reviewed the pics I took of the room when I got there, and it wasn't there, so this is what obviously was left in the room while I was gone.

In fact, it wasn't Mr Hanky and his brood, but thick chocolate chip cookies, in a bed of little chocolate balls. There was no note of any sort, so I'm not sure if this was a Suite amenity, or something Diamond related.

Going to breakfast the first morning, it seemed a bit weird that you couldn't take your elevator there directly. You either had to switch elevators, or take the stairs down.

Food quality is good, with a lot of selections. It is quite spread out, so you'll go for a bit of a jog if you take in all the different stations. The staff is quite helpful and will take your plates to the table. They also warn you about the stairs and such.

If I stayed here a long time, I'd probably quickly get tired of the selection, since not too many items change day to day. I did like the sauteed vegetables and other non-standard breakfast items.

I needed to buy a new piece of luggage to bring some samples back in. I went to the concierge desk to ask for a place for cheap bags. I wasn't even sure he was speaking english until the third time he said something. He was helpful though, and sent me over the shopping center located next to the train station.

Lots of interesting things there, and I got a big size roller bag for $15. I wasn't looking for the Tumi knockoffs they were selling, as this would be a two or three use luggage at best. The first price I was quoted was $42, so you certainly have to bargain, and compare prices.

I had heard mention here of using the ferry to go to the HKG airport, so called the concierge desk to ask about it. I was first told that only some airline customers could use it, which confused me a bit. They checked and called me back later, and said that I could.

Instead, I just took the minivan service for 200 rmb. They had a van come and pick me up, and drop me about 20 minutes away for transfer to another minivan. The line at the border (you stay in the van all the time), was a bit slow, so took about 2 hours from the hotel to the airport. You can bill this to your room, as well. I was satisfied with the price and service.

Checkout was quite easy. There was an errant charge on the bill for the minibar, but it was quickly taken off.

I had a little chat with the head concierge about the thread posted here. I think they have it under control, and I would certainly not hesitate to recommend them.

A lot of the problems I'm sure are associated with the property being new. I'd give the property a B+ for my visit.

The staff in general is very good. And while the staff needs a bit more help in english, at least with the ones on the front line, I'm sure that will improve as well.