Somerset Emerald City Suzhou — Attraction in Suzhou City

The bed was pretty comfortable (just a little too soft for my preference; but after many years in Asia, I have grown to appreciate very hard mattresses). Having a washer/dryer is a nice plus. Shower water is quite hot (but pressure is very low!). ||||The Emerald City mall it's in (and the adjacent IF Mall, which takes up the other half of the block) has lots of good food outlets, including some international chains like the Bifengtang Hong Kong restaurant and the Japanese Ajisen Ramen, as well as Western standbys like Papa John's Pizza, Subway, Starbucks and KFC (and Burger King and McDonald's next to the subway station). Each mall also has a decent supermarket in the basement (the one in the IF Mall near the subway is much better). There's also a fun little night food market on the next block north (quite a long walk, alas).||||However, it is quite a long way to the nearest subway station (nearly a 15-minute walk); and then it's a 20 or 30 minute ride to get into the city centre.||||And it is VERY hard to find!! (It's in the middle of a huge mall complex that takes up half of a city block.) ||||The 'apartment' I was given was very small - actually somewhat misrepresented in the online listing I'd used to book it: significantly less than the advertised 52 sq m, even if you included the unusable 'balcony' space outside. The bedroom actually feels pretty claustrophobic, with hardly any room to move around the bed. ||||There's no outside furniture for the balcony (and no inside furniture suitable to move out there). And the staff bluntly refused to try to obtain any for me (even though there were, for example, plenty of suitable chairs & tables on the sidewalk in front of the lobby, not much used). And the balcony itself was very shabby, hadn't been cleaned for ages (possibly ever!!), and covered with very worn green felt. ||||The TV is very small, and bizarrely hidden inside a wardrobe in the bedroom. It is unfortunately impractical to move it into the more suitable 'living room' area next door. And it has only a handful of channels in English anyway. ||||The furniture provided is also very poor: there's no proper desk chair for the desk (only an upholstered upright chair, far too low and too soft to be used for working); no armchair (only a very small and very low sofa); no dining furniture. The two small tables are too HEAVY to be moved anywhere. ||||But worst of all, this place just has ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE (in English, at any rate; they seem to be geared almost entirely towards a Chinese clientele): they do not reply to e-mail enquiries (request for directions to the property, request for slightly early check-in, etc.). And, on arrival, I found the desk staff quite AWFUL: inept, rude, unhelpful, and with fairly limited English (the one in charge appeared to speak no English at all). This is amongst the worst hotel service I have ever encountered in China, even going back 10 or 15 years; I expected much better from the Ascott chain. ||||I actually went to the place a day early, to make sure I'd be able to find it. I almost cancelled my booking after that first experience, because the desk staff.... were unable/unwilling to check their records to confirm my booking; they were unable to provide a map or a business card that might help me take a taxi there; and they were apparently unable even to confirm that the property was part of the Ascott chain (I hadn't noticed this when booking; but found the Ascott name on flyers and brochures in the lobby, so wondered if there'd been a change of ownership, or if I'd got the wrong place....).||||Things got worse when I came back the next day to begin my stay. I was hoping to check in an hour or so early (had requested as much a couple of weeks in advance, but they never got back to me; I'd asked about it again in person the day before, but staff didn't have a clue how to respond to the request). They tried to fob me off with a smoking room, since that was apparently all they had available at that moment. I said I didn't mind waiting; but they were unable to tell me whether they were going to have the non-smoking room I'd booked available that day or not: they did not know - or would not tell me, anyway - which rooms were being checked out of and were expected to become available that day. All they would do was suggest I come back in a couple of hours and try my luck again!||||I couldn't remember if my booking included a breakfast. Staff couldn't tell me; just told me to go check for myself!||||I asked if any of the balconies actually had some balcony furniture, and was told NO - quite unapologetically. I asked if they would ask a manager if they might be able to obtain some for me - since I was staying for some days, and had been expecting to be able to sit outside, as I was paying extra for a 'balcony room'. Again, they just said NO - refusing even to consider the request.||||I was gobsmacked: NO CUSTOMER SERVICE...

Apartment-Style Hotel in a convenient location, but the payed breakfast was a huge disappointmentThe hotel is located inside a nice mall, about 800m from a Line 1 Subway Station. Parking is easy, and there are StateGrid Charging stations nearby.Our room came with a small kitchen and washing machine, which was clean and well-equipped, though a bit outdated. The beds were very comfortable, and check-in was smooth and friendly, with no issues accommodating foreign guests.However, booking rooms with additional breakfast turned out to be a significant mistake. The breakfast room was shockingly small, chaotic, and poorly managed. Tables meant for 4-6 people were taken up by just 2 guests, leaving families like ours to sit separately. Staff made no effort to bring any order to the chaos, and it seemed like nobody was in charge of ensuring guests were seated properly. The disorganization left us frustrated and ruined what should have been a relaxing morning. This was such a disappointment, especially given how well the rest of the hotel was run.We will stay here again, but absolutely will not be booking the breakfast. Fortunately, there are better options in the mall, like Tim Hortons, or you can prepare your own breakfast...

My son & I came to Suzhou for his business trip. We stayed 5 nights at Somerset. The hotel was clean. We had a 2 bed 2 bath very spacious room for the 2 of us. Breakfast was included every morning (breads, boiled eggs, ham, veggies, cereals, coffee & juices). |The problem we had was the washer/dryer combo wouldnt dry the clothing. We contacted management, they responded right away. It didnt fix the issue- we believe it was a mechanical issue with the dryer portion. Communication was a slight issue to explain the dryer problem as we dont speak Chinese. |This hotel was in a nice area of Suzhou however within a few miles of the hotel is trash laying all over & run down. I felt safe everywhere I went around the area. Suzhou is an industrial area. Plenty of restaurants & shopping within walking distance. I would definitely recommend Somerset to anyone...