CS300

Hi there, I am planning for a personal trip for a couple of days at year-end in Guangzhou.
Any recommendations of which is the nicer Marriott/SPG properties to stay at?

GoSh4rks

I've heard from a service manager at the Shenzhen Marriott that the W was the place to be.

SkiAdcock

To help us to hep you, please be more specific in terms of what is important to you - aka, location, exec lounge access, what constitutes nice, etc. Then we can provide informed input/answer your question.

Cheers.

ftrichard

There's little to choose between the Westin, Marriott and Sheraton - they are all within walking distance. They all have lounges that serve proper food in the evening. My personal preference is the Sheraton because it has an outdoor pool if there weather is good enough and the suite upgrade is better. I got a nice, normal, corner suite. The Marriott suite was an odd, long, shape and seemed to be furnished with an odd mix of garage-sale furniture.

The Aloft is fine and cheaper but no lounge or upgrades.

The W is great being slightly more expensive than the others. Great suites as you'd expect. And a lounge with happy hour booze and canapes for Platinums. I was there again last weekend. My choices would be (a) W and (b) Sheraton.

SHLTP

MW147

I have stayed at the Marriott Guangzhou Tianhe 7 or 8 times, as recently as last week. I go for the Canton Fair so when I am there it is always peak time. They had some service issues when they first opened but they quickly got them ironed out and I always feel well taken care of there. The standard room is spacious and very comfortable. I have been upgraded to their small suite (sorry not sure what they call it) a couple of times and I almost prefer the standard room. This time I had a larger suite and I thought it was excellent.

The western restaurant has a pretty extensive buffet dinner, I order off of the menu - burger, club sandwich, pizza are all pretty good. Man Ho Chinese restaurant it also pretty good if you want Cantonese food but don't feel like going out.

The lounge is large and serves a very nice breakfast, including made to order eggs.

This is an excellent property and I highly recommend it. I can't comment on the other properties as I have not stayed there.

fenger

Can I ask what's your range of rate you've paid for all the stays you've had? Just curious.

ftrichard

Usual rates for hotels in Guangzhou are around RMB850++ for Sheraton, Westin and Marriott, around 1100++ for the W and around 500++ for the Aloft.

MW147

I stay there for the Canton Fair, absolute peak time and most expensive. I have gotten as low as about RMB2,000, as high as around RMB2,500 as I recall.

fmkgb

Any update to recommended Marriotts which have a quality lounge? central, safe location somewhat important. I am not familiar with the different areas of Guangzhou. I will not be there for business.

GenZ

Anybody stayed at the new Marriott in Baiyun? What's the location like?
I can see it's a bit out of town, but rates are a third of the other full service properties during the Canton Fair period.

boekel

stayed last November at the Sheraton for 1.5 weeks. Got as a Titanium a huge suite after the first night. Lounge is on the top floor with good views. Offerings are catering predominantly to Chinese guests, i.e. not so much Western food options. It was sufficient for my purposes. Stayed prior to Covid at the then newly Intercontinental close to the fair and I have to say that apart from the view I prefer the offerings at the Sheration, which is also centrally located in downtown.

SHLTP

Everywhere in Guangzhou (China for that matter) is safe so don't worry about choosing a hotel based on safety.

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gil123

Been in Guangzhou a few weeks for family reasons and our stays included three of the Marriott properties here, namely the RC, Sheraton and Westin. A few observations

​​​​​​Stayed one night at the RC mainly just to burn the Amex FHR credit. For that purpose, it's not a bad use of the credit because it clocked in about 270 for the one night stay. The $100 Fand B credit got us dinner for two at the Italian restaurant, which was okayish but definitely overpriced and overhyped with Michelin guide status (no stars). They served us broccoli for dinner and told us it was broccolini. We also had a cocktail at the bar which was an astounding $25 USD. Service was not great, room was not ready on time, got no upgrade in spite of fhr and titanium status. Room was nice in typical Ritz uptight fashion, but featured a disgusting discolored yellow washlet toilet seat. Breakfast was average and we were accosted twice by a salesperson wandering the hotel trying to sell us some kind of RC membership. They also offered us lounge entry for 2000;RMB for 1 day, a ridiculous amount. I liked the location and the Internet was fast and unfiltered but otherwise stay was entirely unimpressive and I wouldn't dream of staying here again on my own dime. Not worth the pricetag in any way IMHO

As for the Sheraton and the Westin, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that overall I preferred the Westin. The Sheraton was recently renovated and the location is very central but I just found it to be way too busy for my taste. Crowds everywhere and waits for everything. Club lounge and breakfast at Sheraton were both a zoo, with not enough seating. While the Westin is clearly older and getting a little long of tooth, the lounge was much more spacious and chill and I liked the food there better, especially for me as a vegetarian. My omnivorous Chinese wife confirmed, both Western and Chinese dishes were better prepared, fresher and more authentic. Lounge was better staffed and friendlier than the Sheraton, and they even had a live food station each night with things like fresh rice noodles and meatballs and tong yuan. Desserts were excellent, much better than the Sheraton.

Likewise with the breakfast, larger restaurant with more tables. Service level more personal and helpful at the Westin too.. Also, not that it matters much but the Westin did nightly turn down and room refresh while as far as I could tell the Sheraton did not.

We paid about $145 a night for the Sheraton and $105 a night all in for the Westin on Bonvoy business card rate, though it looks like rates fluctuated for both properties up and down and either might be a better deal on any given date- but for me I see more value at the Westin as long as rates are similar or lower

If you're into malls and don't mind crowds then the Sheraton is probably a better bet but for me I'd take the older room and better lounge/breakfast at the Westin any day. ​​​​​​Didn't get to the Marriott and the W was out of our budget for a long stay but for me the best value choice was the Westin.

FWIW, also stayed for 10 days at the Voco in the old part of the city and found it to be a hidden gem, newly renovated hotel with great rooms and breakfast if you want to be in that part of the city and are looking to earn or burn IHG


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