Originally Posted by chazas

I didn't see a dedicated thread for this property - mods feel free to move this if I missed it.

The grounds and the facilities of this property are stunningly beautiful, a calm respite in the middle of a typically chaotic Chinese city. The "all you can eat" breakfast in the restaurant, while not a buffet, was excellent. Some of the staff were very friendly and helpful.

Unfortunately, we did not have a good overall experience. We had booked the lowest room category, Deluxe, via a room rate (the Spa Experience package) that offers an upgrade if available at check-in. We also booked through a Four Seasons Preferred Partner travel agent, which offers the same benefit. We arrived on a Friday evening exhausted after 36 hours of train travel and flights from Lhasa. Our only request was that we not be assigned the worst room in the house - which was exactly what we received. According to the staff, they were full that night, so no upgrade was available. Fine. But what was not fine was that the "Deluxe" room does not match the room description, which says that it "offers views of the traditional Chinese garden and pond." This was flatly inaccurate, as our only view was of a blank wall, which significantly detracted from the experience. A little bit of investigation revealed that there are only four rooms in the property that are actually categorized as "Deluxe," so guests are unlikely to actually experience this problem unless the property is completely full. Our room clearly had not seen a lot of use - there was something seriously wrong with the plumbing in the bathroom. Unless we poured water down the floor drain every few hours, there was a prominent cabbage-like sewer smell. We notified the front desk of this issue, but when asked if it could be fixed the only response was a giggle.

I spoke with the manager the next morning in an effort to resolve our problems, and was told that we simply could not be moved until the last night of our stay. I felt like I was bargaining in a bazaar - rather than a pro-active apology and sincere effort to help, several minutes of back and forth negotiation resulted only in a very small discount off the room rate and an extension of our included massages from 60 to 90 minutes. Even the latter was much less than it appeared - while the spa facilities were beautiful, my partner's masseur was untrained and the painful result left him literally bruised, departing the massage well before its scheduled conclusion.

I would not return.