moondog

Selecting a Chinese name for your company, especially if you desire to build a brand, is a non trivial task. A few points to consider:

1. The primary objective is to resonate with Chinese speakers
2. Phonetic translations are often employed in cases where the underlying foreign term has no specific meaning (e.g. surnames like Hilton or Marriott)
3. But, when doing phonetic translations, it is much more important to employ characters with good meanings and nice sounds than to nail the phonetics exactly (which, is nearly impossible in almost all cases anyway)
4. For brands whose names have obvious actual meanings, literal translations are common (e.g. 4 Seasons, Holiday Inn, United Airlines)
5. Many Japanese and Korean brands are known by their Chinese characters (e.g. Shiseido = 資生堂); obviously, the Mandarin pronunciation is different than the Japanese/Korean
6. With hotels, in particular, building names and landmarks often enjoy better name recognition than the brands themselves; a good example is the Portman RC in Shanghai; RC has made a halfhearted effort to familiarize people with 丽兹卡尔顿, but that hasn't panned out so well in that case (I guess John Portman was pretty popular)

I just stumbled upon the following article, by the way, which provides a bit more perspective:
https://www.luxurysociety.com/en/art...lated-chinese/

Nazdoom

I was really curious about Hainan's free hotels on layovers and transit services when I was first investigating booking with them, so having flown them on the first part of my ticket I think it would be good to share my experience here.

I was eligible for the Hainan Airlines free stopover hotel in Haikou during a 7 hour transit (TPE-HAK-CAN, stopping over in CAN before going to Canada), flying business class via AS miles. We arrived at a remote gate in HAK and a separate bus with ample seating picked up the J pax from the tarmac. We arrived first to immigration, which was completely empty in Haikou, and I was very quickly allowed into China. Haikou international arrivals is very, very small, with just one baggage belt (if I remember correctly). Priority bags came first (Hainan also has someone to pull priority bags to a collection area). Went through customs scanner as is the norm in China and walked into arrivals. I did not see a transfer desk or anyone with signs for transit passengers or my name, so I wandered through the small airport to the departures side (a 2 minute walk) which was completely abandoned at 10pm. I couldn't find anywhere to buy a local SIM, and internet required registration. I saw my screenshots of the Hainan information about transit in HAK and it said to go to departures, where I was, to information desk, which was empty, or call their hotline, which I couldn't. Eventually someone did appear at the information desk, but couldn't speak English and couldn't understand "transit, "hainan airlines", or "layover hotel"... apparently the magic words that worked after five minutes were in fact "transfer free hotel". She called someone from Hainan Airlines who came with a sign they had apparently held but I didn't see (maybe a folly of being first pax out of customs).

She asked for my passport, arriving boarding pass, and where I was going next. I totally misplaced the stub for the inbound so she had information desk (who can see pax data) look up my ticket. She made some calls and I noticed she took a photo of my passport and sent it in a wechat group where other passport photos were sent (I'm not as weirded out by this as I should be based on previous experiences in China). After 15 minutes she said OK and took me outside to the taxi queue where she clearly knew the first driver. I asked her which hotel I was going to and she couldn't understand my question despite much effort (I was hoping to have a bit of a say if possible). She said that Hainan would pay for everything, but it wasn't what I had asked :P

Driver was... interesting. We drove 120 km/hr on the highway while he smoked with one hand and chatted on a wechat call. I tried to put on a seatbelt and he said no no and that he was a racecars driver. He intermittedly talked to me saying I am strong and big and some weird stuff like that. When we arrived after 30 minutes we were in between the airport area and Haikou city proper, but in a commercialized area with people walking on the street like a suburb. When we arrived diver told me I needed to pay, and recognizing it was a scam, I said no, Hainan Airlines will pay. Driver said Hainan pays half and I pay half. Driver pushed a couple times and I just said no money until he gave up. He parked the car and came inside the hotel and jumped the queue to tell them I was a Hainan Airlines passenger. I gave the hotel my passport and while we waited on them to do their registration he touched my arm and chest (I am male) and said again that I was strong. He also made a sexual comment about the girl in the adjacent queue turned away from us. He then came back to me and said I needed to pay him, and I told him he was already paid. Interestingly the hotel staff heard him ask for money but didn't try to tip me off on the scam (may be trying to keep him happy as I think he's the one that chooses the hotel, may be because they didn't understand much English). He eventually gave up and left.

The hotel was a non-chain local hotel in a run down building. Hotel registration was difficult because of severe language barrier. They wanted to know my departing flight time, as they have no info about you in advance. A local in another queue translated the staff's Chinese to rough French and we figured it out that way, albwit slowly. They didn't need my signature or credit card for the room. This is the kind of hotel where they have exactly one key card permanently coded to each respective room and touching even the key card makes you feel ill.

When I got into the room, I had instant regret. To give perspective, the going rate for the night was $20 USD. I was alone; it was a two bed room with one queen and a double (I'm guessing for a family). It was a smoking room and it stunk. The blankets and towels had hairs on them and occaisonal questionable stains. There was no bottled water and of course the tap water was not potable. Everything seemed damaged and dusty and not particularly clean. Luckily I didn't find any bugs despite looking thoroughly. Under my door I found a card advertising prostitution services. I made a very conscious effort to avoid touching much and not to go to bed; instead, I spent 2 hours on the phone with Alaska MileagePlan about my Hainan ticket issue and took a shower and watched youtube. I didn't get into the room until 1230am and my departing domestic flight was 620am, but because they wanted to shuttle us altogether in the morning, I was required to do the 4:20am shuttle.

When it was time to go I got to see the other passengers taking the same shuttle, around 9, crowded in the lobby. There were 4 shuttle times I knew about, and if the others were the same number of pax, then roughly a third of the hotel is probably exclusively Hainan pax (I'd guess 60-100 rooms). I highly doubt it ever gets close to capacity. Unfortunately the shuttle was an ordinary van with seating for 6, and the luggage was also very hard to fit for so many people. One girl was yelling very loudly at the driver and it seemed it could get violent, but I never figured out why exactly. The driver got me and another pax a taxi while he fit 7 people in 6 seats in his van. It looked rough for them, but our taxi was fine and I made a friend.

Overall, I would highly reccomend avoiding the free hotel, even when in J. You are getting a 1 star experience at best. I would much rather book my own at my own expense. Everyone seemed equally upset with the quality. It's also a good warning to be careful of taxi drivers, in terms of their driving, scams, and unwanted touching.

NWplatinum

moondog

I'm not quoting your entire post because doing so would suck up thread space, but I must say that sounds like a horrible experience; I say this even in spite of the fact that I've endured many crappy hotels in tier 3 cities. I'm somewhat surprised that HU's preferred hotel in Haikou is so miserable, in light of the fact that the HNA Group owns and/or operates some okay properties there. Hopefully, this isn't a sign that their financial woes are even more dire than reported in the news. While I am not a big fan of HU or HX, I certainly appreciate their presence in the transpac and China-Europe markets; I will be a sad day if one or both is absorbed by CA.

I am curious why you accepted a HAK connection between TPE and CAN, let alone an overnight (i.e. too many red flags to count). Even if TPE-CAN nonstops weren't cheap, I'd gladly pony up for one myself to avoid the HAK hell you experienced.

NWplatinum

Nazdoom

Their inflight service is pretty great and I was OK with backtracking routing with the free hotel to try and enjoy more out of the ticket (get a glimpse of a lower tier city and not have to pay for a hotel or taxi sounds great!). I was totally wrong though on the hotel, I didn't think it could be that bad (hotels in China are cheap, especially in smaller cities), but it was worse. When I called them to do seat selection I asked about the hotels they partner with and the agent insinuated they have lots of choices and I could request a specific one (subject to it being available) on arrival at the transfer desk, and they named one or two large international brands. I didn't expect the Ritz, but I didn't expect a seedy dump either.

NWplatinum

Kacee

delete

OT

Nazdoom

They said you cannot select in advance, nor can they guarantee you can even get one, they said to go to the transfer desk to see what options they have for you (with insinuation you may be sleeping in a bed in the lounge if need be). Unfortunately ground staff have limited English and I have more limited Chinese, so can't really negotiate which hotel I want when they can't even tell me which one they are sending me too. Haikou is small though, perhaps Beijing or other larger city would be easier to communicate (big maybe).

The phone staff also couldn't tell me which lounge I would have access to in Vancouver. Their go-to answer is to tell you to ask when you arrive for check-in. I don't think they have access to much info from the call centre and I also think it may have been conjecture when they named international brands as possible accommodation choices. I've read a lot of praise for their ground service in online reviews but can't say it was decent let alone good.

Nazdoom

Flying CAN - PVG - SEA - YVR on HU J / AS F. Interestingly HU couldn't check me through for any of the connections all on the same ticket (all within 3-5 hours), so I had to check-in 3 times on Jan. 11.

When I checked in for my AS F flight, the AS agent was having difficulties because their system was saying my (regular) Canadian passport needs a Canadian visa to enter Canada. She had to walk away with my passport for 20 minutes to find someone who could figure it out. Apparently, when Hainan checked me in, they indicated I had a Mexican passport in the system, which created visa issues when connecting onwards on AS. They also apparently indicated I am deaf, blind, AND require a wheelchair (all incorrect...). AS had to "reissue the ticket" to get rid of the bad travel document information.

It is really interesting if Hainan indicated I was Mexican in my API on my US-bound flight. I didn't have any issues with Global Entry or get referred by US CBP computer, although I got SSSS in PVG (it seemed like half the J cabin got SSSS for departure gate screening purposes though, I'd put money the J check-in agent in PVG messed up the API for all the foreign pax he processed). If I was on a tight connection, the bad travel doc info and inability to check-in for the connection would have made me miss my flight, but nobody should book a tight connection in any case when arriving from PVG.

A strange thing I've noticed about Hainan is their safety requirements (or lack thereof). Most airlines are very anal about ensuring TVs are stowed, armrests lowered, windows open, seats are upright to the very maximum, etc. Hainan is quite the opposite. People were allowed to sleep fully reclined during take-off. I had my TV stowed while watching a movie after we started to taxi and the FA asked me if I wanted her to show me how to take it out. The seat had a small sign saying TVs needed to be stowed but clearly it was for show. I noticed after take off that I forgot to stow my armrest but I would have been one of the few who did. Some people will applaud this lax attitude, others may find it dangerous. I'm just pointing it out.

Also, likely in an effort to save money, they refused to serve alcohol within US air space. That meant 2.5 hours of our 9.5 hour flight was alcohol free. This was a bit annoying because that means you can't have champagne with your second meal, and their champagne was actually quite good. They took meal orders for the second meal right after the first meal, at which time I learned of this "rule" when they wanted to know what I wanted to drink with the meal.

I'll see about posting in-flight photos tomorrow.

rustykettel

moondog

I would have simply pointed to the map, and explained that the 2.5 hours out location was nowhere near US airspace.

nearlysober

With regards to taxi's in China - before my trip I printed out the name & address of each hotel in English (so I'd know) & Mandarin on little slips of paper. Then, when I needed to get a cab at the airport on on the street, I'd just show the driver the name & address in Mandarin. One time on the street I had a driver look at it, and wave me off - apparently not a long enough fare to be worth his time
When at the hotel, if I was going to take a cab anywhere I'd ask the concierge to write down instructions for the cab. Overall it worked quite well.

I always try to learn a few common phrases anywhere I go, but the precision of the dialect and pronunciation - I wasn't going to attempt addresses or instructions in Chinese

osubeavers01

NWplatinum