chad75

Introduction 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.BathroomLiving AreaBedroomHowever 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 signifcant 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 themself. This is a positive because the staff here certainly are very friendly and want to help but transaltion issues led to me being often given incorrect information. So apprecaited the enthuasatsism but would have much preferred if they just referred me to another collegue. Emails to the concerge d 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 s 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 General Just some general shots of the hotel: Normal platinum upgrade is to a deluxe balcony room: 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 fewThe service in the restaurants was really quite poorThe 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 and 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 it 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.Despite this I liked the hotel. The joy of sitting outside watching twilight descend on the city, the comfort of the room and the gunine warmth and assistance from the staff really won n