Crowne Plaza Zengcheng — Hotel in Guangzhou City

We were here as part of a China Travel Service group tour ex-Hong Kong, so we did not choose the hotel by ourselves. But CTS comes through with solid meal and hotel choices, and Crowne Plaza was welcome after a couple of intense tour days. ||||First the good things: five-star facilities and service, friendly staff, perhaps not all fluent in English but someone was always nearby to help. Excellent Wi-Fi, terrific domestic and international cable TV choices, plenty of hot water and amenities ... basically what you would expect from a very good hotel anywhere, not to mention a rapidly growing city in southern China that to be honest not a lot of foreigners have heard of.||||Now the other things: actually not much. The location allows for expansive gardens and ponds but not much in the way of commercial options right nearby, and while walking around at night seems quite safe, it's not especially rewarding. But for most people this will not be an issue, and is not the hotel's fault anyway.||||Finally, the buffet. This is one thing the hotel might want to put some thought into. The food itself was fine, with lots and lots of premium choices -- including free-flow beer! How good that was on a hot day. But I mentioned I was there with a CTS group, and there were other groups, and all had been told to converge on the buffet at 1930 hrs. Gosh, what a scrum. Not altogether disciplined, either, and YES I DO recognize by being there as part of a group, I contributed to the problem so this cannot be a complaint. But if one is easily aggravated after a hot day, well, beware. A queue of several people were waiting on one side for a chef to fry fish. On his other side, a bowl with already cooked meat. I saw no reason to wait for those fish (didn't want that), so just went to take a piece of meat and was very roundly berated by those people for not waiting my turn. Sorry folks, but on the flip side (no pun intended) the next morning I ordered an omelet and was reasonably asked by the staff to wait the few minutes while it was being made. No sooner than the chef picked it up to let me take it, someone swooped in for it. (You had to be there to see the dynamic.) As well, I watched one person take a plastic bag and dump the entire buffet plate of prawns into it and take it away. And young kids running unattended just fingering things.||||So by now you are asking: what's my point? If you plan to enjoy the buffet, you might check first to see if any tour groups are coming in, and at what time. Consider eating either earlier or later.||||Would I go back to the hotel? Absolutely. It felt so luxurious. ...

I stay here regularly for business. The hotel is located near the Pearl River in a quiet area of Xintang.||||The good:||||- All the staff are helpful and friendly; some of staff members English is poor but a smile means the same in every language! ||- Check in is quick and smooth||- There are a number of amenities at the hotel, good pool, sauna, gym and 3 restaurants. ||- The rooms are bigger than most in Guangzhou. bathrooms are well equipped and have a huge rainfall shower and bath where you can watch TV!||- Buffet breakfast is probably one of the better ones I've had in China. There are your usuals; breads, fruit, cereal, yogurt, egg station, cooked breakfast and Chinese options all available. Just be sure to avoid the busy times usually 8am-9am. Donald/Judy and their team do a great job to look after you when you eat there.||- Conceirge are also very helpful, Vison and Shawn always ready to help me with getting a taxi or ask about something local.||||The key areas for improvement:||- Air conditioning sometimes in the winter months doesn't seem to go cold enough. Easily fixed by telling the staff at the front desk. As a Brit, I don't like the room too warm!||- More fruit options at breakfast would be great!||- Would be great if there was self serve laundry as its very expensive to get laundry done by the hotel.||||If you want to get a snack or drink, I'd highly recommend walking 2 minutes to the left of the hotel where you can find a local shop. Prices are a...

I am disappointed.||For a Crowne Plaza hotel, I really expected more. There are many staffs but none of them are really working. The girls are not interested in greeting you, and their knowledge about the hotel is poor. But when I met the front desk Manager Jerry, and I find his attitude unbearable, and now I understand why the standard of services of the hotel is so poor.||He is a snob. He work in a painfully slowly speed, he talk down to you. I told him I am a gold member of IHG, and show him my membership number, and he spent 10 minutes on his computer to verify my statue, and when I request a higher floor room, he just say no. He is patronized me and praise me for a regular guest, then criticized me my membership is not high enough hence DO NOT qualify for any perks!!||The hotel is new and the décor is good. The dining room serve decent food. Shame the staffs are not efficient and treat guests in a poor manner.||I shall...