hi!

i have business to do in shenzhen, china, a lot. unfortunatly it seems there is no hyatt, starwood or hilton property there. the shangri-la seems to be a good choice.

-- has anybody stayed in the shangri-la shenzhen and how is it?
-- how is great circle or can i collect points in a shangri-la hotel in any other program?
-- any news on status comps from golden circle (i found an older topic about it here and this said they would not comp hyatt diamond, but maybe something else?)

thank you!

Hi Uli,

welcome 2 Shangri-La hotels: a really excellent hotel group 4 frequent travellers.

Circle programme is 4 getting hotel benefits. You can't collect points, but U can collect airline miles. That means U earn stay/night credit with Circle for tier qualification and airline miles 2 your frequent flyer programme: as U are a KLM Flying Dutchman member, U may earn airline miles with them (or with LH / AA).

Shangri-La comped my Starwood Platinum 2 Shangri-La 'Elite' (= name of Top Tier. Quite confusing tier names) in April 2004. Comp is valid until 2006. I received a referral from a friend who has top tier with Shangri-La (I often stay in HKG and SIN. I sent Shangri-La a proof of Starwood Platinum and my stays in HKG and SIN + friend's Shangri-La 'Elite' referral). A collegue was able 2 get a comp from Marriott Platinum this year, too.

Hope that helps.

Uli, how was your stay at the shangri-la shenzhen? Can you recommend the hotel? What about Shangri-La 'Elite' treatment in this hotel?

Tim,

I did not stay there. Most people advised me the crowne plaza is much better, so i used it several times and i was happy about it. they have a nice pool and a very nice bar with life music as well, only the "Italian" restaurant is below standards. room-service is fine and broadband works will. always booked junior suite.

I would be interested in knowing how the Hilton Shenzhen is ...

Regarding Shangri-La Golden circle, I wrote to them, and they did not want to comp anything. also they said the necessary stays for top tier have to be at more than one hotel.

The Shenzhen Shangri-la, if you are familiar with other Shangri-la properties, is generally considered not to be on par with the name and reputation of the hotel chain in terms of the overall quality. It is convenient to the Lowu border crossing to HK, walking distance, which may or may not be desirable, depending on your needs (very noisy, crowded environment around) and requirement to be in Shenzhen City proper.

I vote for the Crowne Plaza in terms of the service and the amenities. It isn't all that convenient for Shenzhen City, but it is in Overseas Chinese Village, a nicer environment overall. It's across the road from one of those theme parks, I think it's Windows of the World or Splendid China.

thank you for the info!
the theme park opposite to the crowne plaza is WINDOW OF THE WORLD and quite cute

Generally, if you just call up the Golden circle hotline, the responses are exactly by the guidebook. However, I've found they're not as strict on the need to have stays at multiple hotels in order to be executive or elite. For example, if you stay reguarly at one particular shangri-la, speak with the people at that hotel and ask them to push Golden Circle in HK to give you the relevant status even though you may only have stayed in that one single shangri-la all year. I managed elite status after clocking up 25 stays at one single shangri-la. In fact, from staying so often at that one hotel, I was treated better and given more benefits than the published elite levels!

Yes, the Shang in Shenzhen is below the average Shang quality level. It is walking distance from Lo Wu and that is the main attraction I suppose.

The GC is great for recognition, but there is very little reward in terms of clocking points. Competing hotel programs have regular promotions where you can earn free nites very fast. The 1000 miles that I get from GC in my MPC or WP are simply not much use. I have so many airmiles already, it is hotel points I need.

If I stay at a hotel 25 nites in one year all the staff know you and you can expect extra service in any hotel chain IMHO.