Originally Posted by
DJ_Iceman
I am sitting right now at the JW Marriott in downtown Shanghai (looking at the Marriott City Center outside my window). Of all the countries I've visited over the years, China has the least number of fluent English-speakers, even in western hospitality chains. So an e-mail with a complex request will be hit-or-miss, and does your friend really want to take that chance? So Moondog's advice was most certainly not a joke.
Not to be too nosy, but if you share the specifics of the request here, maybe someone will have another suggestion as to how to get it fulfilled.
Originally Posted by
chriskuo
I would agree that the way to go is to make the most favorable cancelable reservation.
If that is not satisfactory, follow up with a request for what she wants. If they do not meet her minimum requirements, cancel it.
I am aware that not everyone in China is fluent in English which was one of the reasons why my friend rather wanted to email them instead of calling. Other advantages of email is that you do not have to take time zone differences into consideration and that you have in writing what was answered plus my friend is also not fully fluent and prefers to write to make things clear. I am normally doing this all the time myself - also for China, but I tend to stay in more luxurious hotels (Peninsula, Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons etc) where this has never been a problem: easy to find the email addresses (they tend to be standard across a certain chain or they are clearly written by the internet sites) and my requests have always been answered promptly and to my satisfaction. That's why I recommended my friend to do things the same way, but I understand now that Marriott, at least in China, should be done differently.
My friend has decided to make the most favourable cancelable reservation now and will follow up with a request for what she wants as you suggested.
Thanks for your help.