Not a proper PH, avoid at all costs

1   Not Recommended
August 1, 2019 by

 Map | 1 Review | 0% Recommended
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Park Hyatt Shenzhen
 Map | 1 Review | 0% Recommended

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As mentioned this hotel got me disappointed enough to post to TA so don't be surprised if you find a very similar review over there. (Of course more content here :) )

Check In

From the moment we arrived we felt very unwelcome and were offered very little assistance with our bags until stepping into the hotel. There is also no direct access to the Futian train station which means we were soaked in the rain upon arrival (and still ignored).

The check in agent was curt and lacked friendliness, and the check in experience was clearly below Park Hyatt standard. (Tiny and no chairs / space to put your bags etc) Worse, she lied blatantly regarding room upgrade availability despite multiple higher categories available for sale well into the evening. Clearly they do not care about an elite member that has already put his head on Hyatt beds for 50 nights just halfway through the year. Even more puzzlingly it was their second day of operation, but contrarily I felt that they were just asking for further negative publicity.

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Room

We were allocated a Skyline View room, a 1 category 'view upgrade'. The room is small to begin with at 48m2 (doesn't feel that big even at all), given a combination of factors including China, PH/luxury and skyscraper hotel.

The room design screams cheapness and again is way below other Park Hyatts both in China and overseas. For example, the minibar and the two (tiny) closets were portable and movable, and so were the bed and the carpet on the floor. It means that this room can easily be emptied and the clinical generic furniture forms no part of its (non-existent) design. It is to my understanding that the owner, designer and contractor ran into disputes over the hotel’s design but I as a paying customer cannot expect Hyatt to sacrifice brand standards regardless of circumstances. It must have involved great agony for Y-P to have signed off this final design product.

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The bathroom is clearly below par for a luxury hotel and especially at this price point and location. The tub was extremely narrow with no countertop space. The floor area was so minimal there was no room for a floor mat for the tub. The vanity countertop was similarly narrow and there was not enough room to store personal amenities. The shower lacked both water pressure and spaciousness. There were no TVs or stereo systems in the bathroom which was another grave disappointment.

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The minibar was poorly stocked and the room decoration overall is plain awful for a Park Hyatt. As mentioned the room was not fitted out with any cupboards, tables, etc. So it resembles more of a cookie cutter conference hotel than a top notch luxury hotel which is what a Park Hyatt is supposed to be.

Service

Here comes the worst bit. The worst part is we did not know that the bulk of hotel facilities (including Spa, Gym, Pool and Bar) were all not yet open, until we saw a letter placed in the room informing us. We were NOT AWARE NOR NOTIFIED about this in the entire booking and check in process, so it was very dishonest of the hotel to have sold rooms at full and expensive prices only to FAIL to deliver what are some basic facilities that one expects from a luxury city hotel. On the next day, there was radio silence from them regarding updates on available facilities as well (seems like something opened - i think it may have been the gym - which I would have certainly appreciated and used.)


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The most unacceptable part lies in how despite there are issues that the hotel management cannot easily alter (such as poorly designed rooms and facilities still under construction), they did not take any initiative to rectify or alleviate the situation at all for their guests’ well being. ZERO. For example, they could have offered free breakfast or happy hour etc. Instead, when we checked out, they did not even bother to ask the standard question of how our stay went. Our receipt was just printed, our card charged and that was it. At no point did we see any managers present to listen to customer feedback which is highly unbelievable for a luxury property second day into its operation. Again let me reiterate that this was for last night the most expensive Hyatt property in non-Japan Asia.

Dining

We had dinner at Garden Pavilion, the Chinese restaurant and breakfast at Glasshouse on the penthouse floor of the hotel.

Dinner at Garden Pavilion - food was good albeit pricey. And dicey as well - the English menu had different prices than the Chinese one. Seems to be mostly Cantonese food with some Sichuanese touches here and there. The service was a complete mess. Our food orders took forever to come and at the wrong pace. I overheard complaints from other tables related to all sorts of issues. It seems that half of the items on the already limited menu were unavailable. Tea was 116 CNY + 15% for two people which is insanely steep. However, credit is given to the team here as they were the only ones that proactively did some sort of service recovery. We were offered two desserts on the house and they were as good as the rest of the food we ordered. 

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Breakfast (Note: does not accrue WOH points) was at Glasshouse - a greenhouse like space on the second highest floor of the hotel, bright and airy although water was leaking and towels were placed underneath almost every single window panel in the restaurant. Buffet selections were limited and uninspiring (again, more an HR than a PH), for example no fresh juices, very limited hot items. However, the saving grace is there is a quite extensive a la carte menu of standard staple items (eggs, egg dishes, pancakes and waffles, noodles, dim sum) and there is no limit to what you want to order. Service was extremely attentive and outstanding also.

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So I will give (partial) credit to the hotel's F&B and hopefully the rest of the options are at least as good as those that I went to.

Location

Located in the South tower of the Ping An Financial Centre complex in Futian, Shenzhen - a 14 minute high speed rail ride away from HK. However, although the hotel claims it is directly connected to the station, we were unable to find our way despite with full GPS/data navigation and our command of Chinese. Hence why we were soaked upon arrival.

My understanding is the so called connection relies on the opening of the PAFC mall within the complex of the hotel, which hasn't materialized yet.

The views from the South tower definitely cannot compare with the main tower but you do get some nice views of Shenzhen Bay, Qianhai CBD, as well as the Northern suburbs of Hong Kong in the distance. Nothing too special tho.

Overall

Call me a DYKWIA or whatever, but I am somewhat amused to not have gotten an actual upgrade, nor any interaction with any kind of management throughout my stay at the hotel. 

I would've thought nights count mattered (read: many Globalists in China are fast tracked etc) plus I doubt the hotel was SO elite heavy and nor was it booked full. In fact as a luxury hotel (/wannnabe) management should be actively seeking feedback from any type of guest in opening stages, but it wasn't the case here.

I will see what channels I can voice my feedback, because as mentioned there wasn't even the customary 'how was your stay' at check out.

Conclusion -  this is not a proper Park Hyatt. I hesitate to even put the 'yet' in at the end of the above statement. Forget about personalized luxury; there was almost no service at all, definitely nothing proactive. $440 USD nightly rate for a below average room and bottom of the barrel experience. Save your bucks and stay elsewhere. (Even the certs and points - I find it hard to stomach this as a cat 4.)

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