tris06

Check In Check-in was at around 12 noon.We had booked a prestige suite for 2 nights from the 8th of December until the 10th of December 2018.We were offered complimentry tea/coffee/juice or soft drink on arrival. This hotel only has 70 rooms/suites so the front desk is often not busy.Upon walking through the front doors you turn left then left again which makes checking in a bit different as it is set up in to the side of one of the corridors.After dealing with payments and deposits I enquired about the suite we would get. They seemed to have not communicated with the reservations and I was told an upgrade from the prestige suite was not possible. I told them that it had been sorted out and I knew they had very limited availability but would grant the upgrade to a Grand Prestige suite (They only have 2). So it was sorted but they were very nice about it.No drink vouchers were offered but considering we had happy hours between 5:30pm and 7:30pm, Non alcoholic drinks from the bar at anytime (Platinum benefit), Free mini bar (1 time only no free replacements unless asked for and then it will be charged for.)Also we were allowed to use the club lounge (11th floor) in the regular sofitel (platinum benefit) at anytime it was open as well as their swimming pool.Both hotels have a pool.We were then escorted to the suite. Room The room was very lovely on the 6th floor (highest floor with rooms/suites).98m squared.The welcome gift as i had already metioned in another thread.A good sized lounge room with fake fireplace. Dinning room (didn't use it)Generous sized bathroom with 2 washbasins, a bathtub and the usual nicely done. Plenty of storage space.A guest bathroom. Decent bedroom. Small kitchenette which had a sink and microwave with its door to the dinning room. I was told they were not allowed to have any oven or stove in the suites for safety reasons.The lights automatically came on when you opened the door (no need to slot your card in to keep the lights on).A mini bar as pictured. Service Service was the strongest feature. My mother said it was almost too much for her to be waited upon. The butler service is not as evident as compared to the Sofitel Legend Amsterdam where you have a butler assigned to you a a few others but they are just as good and do their best to help you out or accomodate you. Turndown service was down consistenly around 6-7pm both evenings and also left a nice snack (in the bedroom) as well as tea in the lounge for when we came back both night.House keeping was done in the late morning and they did a great job. Evian water was restocked 2 times per day (usually they left 5 bottles in the suite which was plenty). The swimming pool at the legend while inside was still not warm enough considering the very cold weather outside the pool (26-28 degrees water temperature). Nothing too amazing here and no sauna or steam room unless you go to the spa. There are 2 small changing rooms it was a bit cold inside luckily my room had a heater which helped.There was a gym but did not use it. Dining We opted to dine almost exclusively inside the 2 hotels with 2 options for drinks and food as mentioned before. There are some restuarants and I saw the reviews online which were not amazing but okay. So the pictures I have are for both nights. Happy hour at the Legend, 4 hot dishes each evening. Cold cuts, some cheese, suhi, salad, cakes and sandwiches. The makeshift lounge however was a little cold especially the first night when it was -8 outside. The sofitel club lounge we actually enjoyed more it was also warmer than the Sofitel Legend happy hour. Also more hot food options and similar cakes and cold foods. This lounge was also nearly always empty. Staff were very pleasent and even knew our names when we came in the first time as the other hotel let them know we could use it.Breakfast I unfortunately forgot to take pictures.I can say it was very good quality. Service was great. They had 2 rectangular stations with hot food (10-12 dishes) an area near a cooking station (presume is was to cook noodles) and it had a small number of pastries next to it as well as some porridge (western and chinese styles) . 2 stations had cold food and cereals and juices.There was a made to order menu you could order from.Waffles, pancakes, french toast (this was good), eggs and quite a few chinese hot food options.They also had sparkling water you could ask for as it was not displayed. Location Location is inside the old city walls and very central. It was a 10-15 min walk to the muslim quarters, bell tower and drum tower. However with the temperature being below 0 degrees nearly all day and well below that at night we did not want to go much further. There were plenty of tourists at these locations and some yummy street food like the chinese version of a hamburger which had line ups.The hotel is located with 3 other accor hotels within a square. Very convenient and only a 20-30 second walk to all the other 3. The warriors is a good 1hr taxi ride (25USD using the meter). We however decided to take the more interesting way on the way back on the public city bus which was far more interesting and only cost 1 USD each adult (1hr 30mins and stops at the Xian railway station which is a 4-5 min taxi ride from the hotel). But it was great fun and everyone was friendly. Overall Our stay was lovely but pricey. We paid 3000rmb (aroud 450 USD) per night. I would recommend it but I am not sure the grand prestige is worth the extra amount they ask for. Next time i would likely just book either the grand premium room or premium room and get the upgrade from those and prices for the cheapest rooms was around 1700rmb per night. The quality of the room and service would set this apart from the regular Sofitel. The lounge at the regular sofitel was better than the happy hour. We would also consider the regular sofitel but we did not get to see the rooms. However best to say they are okay from the reviews online. I asked if i could view some other rooms on the last day. The manager Danny (the other manager on the 1st day was called Daniel) was happy to show me 3 room types as the other rooms were fully booked out. Premium room (45m squared) Grand Premium room (60m squared) Presidential suite (220m squared)