Maelstrom

Introduction Ibis-family brand hotels in China are non-participating in Le Club and, being a partnership between Accor and Huazhu, Huazhu membership benefits apply. However, Accor Plus members do still receive the 10% members discount on rates when booked online.The Huazhu program is free to join with silver and gold status being permanent upon attaining them. It is possible to receive silver and gold status invites from existing Huazhu members, meaning you can get these statuses for free for life. Gold benefits include 2pm late check out and one pax free breakfast per day.This review is for a SUPERIOR DOUBLE ROOM, which is the second-lowest category. Location About a half hour drive from Quanzhou Railway station, the hotel is located next to a small shopping mall, which has a Watsons (chemist) and a McDonalds. Most of the city scenic spots require a taxi/Didi to get to, which take about 15-20 minutes to get to.The main bus station of the city is located about 100 meters away, from which you can get to any of the scenic spots from. Service Service at this hotel could not be faulted. The front desk agent was very kind to extend complimentary breakfast to us for one morning, usually priced at CNY 35 per person. Breakfast staff were also very attentive, such as bringing us some glasses of juice that were not on the buffet. Room I have stayed in some pretty average Ibis hotels in China, and so I did not have huge expectations at this hotel. I was very pleasantly surprised with the standard of the hotel. The bed was comfortable, with soft and hard pillows provided. Each beside had a power point and USB charging ports, though only one side controller had a night light switch, which was a bit odd. There was a small storage space under the bedside table, which was a handy place to place unwanted pillows. A small sofa and table, a long working bench and chair and luggage stand completed the room furnishings. Two complimentary 600ml waters are provided daily. There is a small wardrobe with a generous allocation of hangers.The TV has easy access to the HDMI and USB ports.The room does an OK job of blocking out street noise, but car horn noise can affect sleep if you are a light sleeper.My major complaint is that the room temperature appeared to be centrally controlled and set at 27 degrees. The weather was quite humid when we were there and it was difficult to get to sleep with the room so warm and slightly humid. The bathroom sink is located outside of the bathroom in the room entranceway, with generous under bench storage, various bathroom essentials are provided and a wall-mounted hair dryer. The toilet had a ‘smart lid.’ The shower had very good pressure and temperature, though the amenities were not replaced with our service; fortunately, we had lifted some from the previous stay at the Grand Mercure in Foshan that got us through the stay here. As you can see from the photos for the bedroom, there is a glass window between the shower and bathroom, that is opaque for most of it, but transparent at the top. Dining Breakfast finishes at 10am at this hotel and each morning we got there at about 9:30am. Most of the dishes still had ‘enough’ food in them, though they were slightly cold. The buffet was almost entirely Chinese foods. The sweet buns were surprisingly good. The restaurant can seat maybe 30 people. I am not sure if it is open for services other than breakfast. Facilities The gym is very small, with one treadmill, one bike and a couple of machines, though I was surprised to see that there was even a gym at this hotel. There is an onsite laundry room, but I believe it has two washing machines and a hanging area for drying clothes. This city can get very humid, so I was surprised to not see a tumble dryer. Overall For CNY 280 per night for the second-lowest category room, this hotel and room was very good value. We had a very comfortable stay and would absolutely return to this hotel.