Hyatt Regency Dongguan China REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
 

I have been informed that the Hyatt Regency Dongguan has been scheduled for "trial run" started from June 14, 2006, and the official soft opening will be on August 1 until October 7, 2006. During this period the hotel is offering the following special introductory rates (valid Aug 1 - Oct 7, 2006, subject to availability):

Room Type Introductory Rate Published Rate
Guestroom king/twin RMB 700.00 RMB 1638.00
Lake view room king/twin RMB 900.00 RMB 1838.00

-All rates are subject to 15% service charge per room per night.
-As a special benefit, the above room rate quoted is inclusive of a maximum of 2 buffet breakfasts served at the Cafe.

The introductory rates look like a great deal


If you are interested, I suggest that you contact the hotel directly

Pauline Zhou
Sales Manager
Hyatt Regency Dongguan
Song Shan Lake Central District
Dongguan, Guangdong 523808
People's Republic of China
Office Phone: +86 769 2289 1234 ext.62221
Direct Phone: +86 769 2145 6016
Fax: +86 769 2289 8666
www.dongguan.regency.hyatt.com

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HR Dongguan
 

Finally got around to visiting this new property. I'm staying here this weekend during their "soft opening". The hotel is about 1/2 finished (RC, full fitness and spa area not ready, several restaurants not open, etc...) but the facility and grounds are beautiful. The interior reminds me, somewhat, of the Hangzhou property (especially the hallways and, to a lesser degree, the rooms). The theme clearly revolves around the Chinese concept that water = wealth. So there is running water everywhere so that the the very quiet babbling brook sound can be heard in all of the public spaces.

The oddest (and most refreshing) part of this experience is that this property is in Dongguan. For my fellow Southern China travelers, if you've been to Dongguan, you know that this city/region is one huge factory and not a vacation location. Yet, this HR has done a brilliant job of insulating its property from the world's manufacturing and construction site. Somewhat like how Grand Cypress is right in the middle of the madness of Orlando but once you turn onto the property, you enter a completely different world.

Oh, and the temporary 700RMB rate ain't half bad either. I look forward to seeing more of the hotel later in the year.

Hyatt Regency Dongguan
 

I stayed here from 18-19 Sep. I was visiting a factory in the Houjie area (where the Sheraton Dongguan is, by the way), and it's about a 45-minute drive. The drive was quite nice, going through the industrial city, and the eventually getting into the New Science & Technology Park, with lots of greenery, tree-lined boulevards, big, wide roads, etc. There are clear signs to the Hyatt Regency from about 5km out.

Upon driving up to the hotel, first impressions of the place was how similar it is to the Le Meridien She Shan Shanghai. The hotel is divided into two wings, with the lobby and concierge area in the centre, with rooms and function halls fanning out on both sides. If this Hyatt Regency is a sign of things to come in China, I will be a Hyatt fan for life! Very minimalist, sleek modern design. Beige, brown tones. Bright and sunny (lots of windows), unlike a lot of hotels in China which don't even turn on some of the lobby lights in the daytime. A very grand lobby.

Checkin was quite efficient, but I think that the checkin counter is quite small for the eventual full opening of the hotel. I only counted three computers there, but there is concierge around the corner, and maybe, they will also use this for checkin in the future. As a Diamond, got upgraded to a Lake View room. Rate was RMB 700+15%, incl. 1 continental buffet breakfast (which otherwise would be RMB 128).

The elevators had buttons from L through 8, but only the rooms on the 3rd and 4th floors were opened. I could still hear some construction going on. The hallway is quite LONG, and I had a room very near the end. I think even numbered-rooms are Lake View, and odd numbers are Garden View. I was VERY impressed by the design of the room. Seemed like a cross between the Hyatt Hangzhou property (bedroom) and, IIRC, the Grand Hyatt Berlin property (bathroom). Walking in the main door, the usual closet are on one side, and a sliding translucent glass door leading to the bathroom is opposite. There is a small space for luggage following the closet, and then the minibar. After that, the hallway opens up to the bedroom. Mine was a king bed (very comfortable bed, by the way). 42" plasma screeen hanging on the wall opposite the bed, with a small countertop underneath the tv. Following the tv is a glass worktable, with HS internet (not free). There is also a lounge chair with ottoman, and a floor lamp.

The most striking feature of the room is the balcony. It is separate by the room by TWO glass doors. One glass door opens up onto HALF of the balcony. Two chairs and a small table are the only furniture, but it is very peaceful and relaxing to sit there and look out onto SongShan Lake (although there is a lot of construction going on at the opposite shore). The other glass door opens up into a glass enclosed balcony area with a square sunken bathtub, big enough for two people.

The bathroom itself is quite a big size, mainly because the usual bathtub has been moved out to the balcony area. There is a make up table on one side, and twin-sink vanity on the other. Also a glass-enclosed shower with rainforest shower head, and the conventional wall-mounted shower head. Also a bench inside the shower for you to sit and feel the spray of the water (I think Chinese/japanese like this a lot). Only problem I had with the bathroom is that Housekeeping forgot to place glasses anywhere, but a quick call solved this problem.

The room was quite clean, but I could see that they still had some minor touch-up work to do. Small issues, however.

Restaurants: I only tried the Cafe, which is accessed via the lobby. A glass-staircase (with water running down steps along the side) leads down to the restaurant on the lower level. Very modern design, with small pools of water interspersed through the seating areas. Semi-private tables were also available, which were semi-enclosed by wood lattices. The dinner buffet is quite a good value, at RMB 158. Lunch buffet is much the same menu, but at RMB 128. The a-la-carte menu is nothing special, but pricing is reasonable.

There is also a lobby lounge accessed on the lobby level, and then via a bridge to a platform which actually sits above the Cafe. I didn't go to the lobby lounge, however.

Regency Club not opened yet. Don't know if there is a swimming pool. There is an exercise/gym room on the main floor with some exercise equipment. It was deserted when I passed by in the morning.

The hotel is offering quite a flexible checkout policy now. I checked out around 3:00pm, no questioned asked. I asked concierge how much a hotel car would cost to go to Changping Train Station. It was RMB 300. The concierge said, however, that she could call me a private taxi instead, and the price was only RMB 100. I opted for the latter. In average traffic, the time from the hotel to Changping Station was 30 minutes.

I would DEFINITELY stay at this hotel again if business took me to this area again. Actually, once the hotel has all its facilities open (the earliest will be by the end of this year), I wouldn't mind spending a relaxing weekend here either.

I've taken about 70 photos of the hotel and facilities, but still don't know how to upload them (moondog taught me once, but I still can't seem to get it working via my Mac). Does anyone want to upload them somewhere; I can email them to you.

Photos of Hyatt Regency Dongguan
 

OK, I've finally been able to upload some of my photos onto flickr.com.

Here is the link: Hyatt Regency Dongguan Photos

Enjoy!

Completely nice stay (at the suite) at dongguan!
 

My girlfriend and her girlfriend went to this hotel just to chill for the weekend and I booked a suite for them. here is what she says.

They had transportation from Hong Kong directly to the hotel arranged by the hotel at around $250 HKD per trip. It was quite cheap and they pick you up at a good location by Causeway Bay at around 10am. It was a big plus because to get there yourself otherwise would be such a pain in the butt.

There is this staff from the hotel on the bus that was doing check in so we were IDed to be the suite guest and they gave us the room key on the bus ride to the hotel already, it was very smooth and efficient and there was no waste of time. The ride was smooth and it was a short sweet ride around 2 hours or so.

It turns out that the staff who came to Hong Kong from the bus to pick us up is the GM of the place and he changed into suit and I almost couldn't recognize him at all. He was really nice and friendly and we had a few chat here and there.

The hotel is big and the thing is, we love our suite so much that we didn't make it outside, not even to the spa building and the swimming pool -- okay we took a few pictures there but that's all.

The room was BIG. Our room has a living room that we didn't use at all because we were spending so much time at the balcony. The couch and the chairs were so comfy just like home and we were literally there for at least 7 hours. It was semi- outdoor like you are inside the building without the glass window, and the suite was facing a big lake. So that adds some point to it too.

We ordered room service and the chicken wings were to tiny and 6 of them doesn't really make a plate, that's something that i think they should work on but hey at least we got a cosmo and we got drunk with those instead :)

The room have 2 bath tubs which we were completely in love and I am sure you probably haven't seen things like that before. They have a regular bath tub that comes with the scrub which i appreciate very much. They also have this japanese looking semi-outdoor tub that is facing the lake as well. The tub was square shape and it was big, you could fit 2-3 people in there. It was really relaxing and they have some really "zen" feeling surrounding the tub and a Buddha. I love that a lot.

We dine at the chinese restaurant there for all meals and the food was so great. The price is not cheap but it is not ridiculous at all. They have some home made style herbal soups that we love very much and everything was just so great, i would love to try ALL of their dishes if i could. We both love it!

The manager was kind enough to order magazines for us from the city when my girlfriend was asking them for some Elle and any other magazine and they sent someone outside the city and get some for us, a big pls!

We went to the club level and got our breakfast there, i can't remember much but the good was great as far as i could remember.

The swimming pool outdoor was exactly what the picture of the website capture. It is an infinity pool and it looks like you are seriously swimming into the lake, it was so cool! there were some local people boating a small boat and catching fish too, i love this homey village feeling and it feels so cozy and i got to experience that refreshment without being in danger myself.

I seriously would love to go back again for a short trip, everything was remarkable, maybe except the chicken wings but that doesn't take away any point :)

Great for romantic getaway and a relax weekend. You could go outside of the hotel if you want to explore but the hotel really got everything you need to relax. I was told that you could take a boat ride or ride bike by the lake but we didn't bother. They have security guards guarding the place big time.

Just interested to know what transportation you took from Hong Kong Causeway Bay to the hotel. It was a bus, right? As advertised on the hotel website here (http://dongguan.regency.hyatt.com/hy...tion/index.jsp), they have bus service available from Wanchai at CNY 45/person each way. Is this the same one you took, or something different? It seems like you paid quite a lot for a bus, but if it was a minivan or something as comfortable, that would have been more reasonable.

Yes, you are right. It is from Wanchai instead directly to the hotel. Nothing is out from CWB.

It is the same thing that you found on the hotel site you quoted below. I probably overpaid by friend but if that's the price you found, it should be it. It was a big bus, like a travel coach bus and the seats are all cushioned. The bus is quite clean and the driver seems to drive well and safe. We got there without any issues.


Back to the bus ride, if you don't know how to get to the hotel, you should definitely take the bus ride. However, i think they only have it running few days around the weekend. I think they don't have any bus on Monday or mid-week but please check. The one that i took departs on Saturday around 10am from Hong Kong and coming back during afternoon from the hotel to Hong Kong and the bus schedule is very very limited.

Otherwise, I was told that you could take the train to the other Chinese border that is located northwest and then you need to arrange the other leg to get to the hotel, which still have about 1.5 hours ride before you reach the hotel.

Looking to stay at HR Dongguan with points but recently discovered from the hotel that the Wanchai shuttle is to be discontinued from 1 March 2010. Quite surprising considering the large amounts of HK guests that stay here.:td:

btw, shuttle to Dongguan downtown is seriously overpriced @ RMB30.:eek: (same price as to Shenzhen) yet with very limited frequency. I don't understand why they don't simply operate a 30 minute shuttle downtown when the hotel itself is so isolated (only other transport option appears to be taxi) - similar to that offered by HR CDG. Does anyone know if there are public buses stopping at this property?

Forgive me, because I am speaking from semi-ignorance on this. I haven't stayed at the HR Dongguan yet as I have typically stayed at other hotels in the area. But, I its definitley been on my radar for one of my upcoming trips.

It seems liee there has to be better transport solutions from HK to the HR DG than shuttles. In general, I try to avoid road transportwhen in SZ or DG as I have wasted too many hours of my life sitting in traffic there.

I have two suggestions that I think would make it easier.

1 - The easiest method I've found for the area - Take the KCR East Rail from Hung Hom Station in Kowloon to the SZ border at Lowu. Walk across the border and then use the Shenzhen-Guangzhou train. The train leaves every ~20 min all day long. You could take the train to either Zhangmoutou, the first stop (~20min trip/40RMB) and take a taxi from there, or to Shilong (closer to the HR DG) and take a taxi from there.

In general, this train is great for most of the industrial areas. I use it regularly to Zhangmutou adn to Guangzhou East station, which incidentally is pretty close to the GH Guangzhou.

2 - Less transfers, but pricier and probably slower - Take the Kowloon - Guangzhou Intercity train from Hung Hom Station in Kowloon to Dongguan/Changping station. Cost is ~145RMB and then take a taxi from there to the HR DG. The benefit is that you don't need to transfer at the border.

The discontinuation of shuttle to Wanchai is definitely sad news. I remember the last time when I took it a 3 months back, the assistant manager was on the bus to greet us. He was aware of my diamond status and extended a warm welcome.

Speaking about points, I'm not sure if it's the greatest use of points if you're looking for the standard room, since they run at ~700 RMB (perhaps because I used a corporate code). I used the points for upgrade to the suite and that was definitely worthwhile.

It sounds like the direct train to dongguan from hk option is less of a hassle. Are the taxis from the train station to hotel safe?

Hyatt Regency Dongguan
 

I have stayed here over 35 nights this year. They redid the Internet about a month ago. Since then the service has been terrible! I have to spend an average of 90 minutes a day dealing with it! To top it off they have not offered any compensation. Just a lot of appologies! They blame the Chinese government but everywhere else the Internet works the way it should! Anybody else having this problem?

I stay here 20-30 nights/yr. It's the most central good hotel in DG, and the service is consistent (now, better than 2004!). If you are Diamond, they treat you right. Make some friends on the staff, and you will be rewarded.

How far is the Hyatt to the Sheraton Dongguan?

Depending on traffic 45-60 minutes! The Hyatt is nicer than the Sheraton. But there is more to do around the Sheraton. The Hyatt staff will get you a cab to go anywhere around Dongguan.

I always have problems at the Dongguan train station, with taxi drivers that refuse to use the meter. I usually just walk out to the street and try to get a taxi that will use the meter.