Hotel Sofitel Guangzhou Sunrich — Hotel in Guangzhou City

The location was a bit troublesome, had to walk ages to cross the road and there weren't many food options around...or you could taxi around.

The room that I booked had access to an "exclusive" floor for breakfasts or other activities. However the breakfast provided on that floor was underwhelming and lack options; whereas the "common" floor provided many more options, but obviously more crowded and noisy.

This then brings us to the quality of the breakfast, I basically had mine on the "common" floor everyday (stayed there for 5 nights) due to more options available, it was buffet styled breakfast. The quality of food was hit and miss; some of the food you had to pick the ingredients and get the chef to cook for you, but then they would often accidentally give it away to someone else...which was not helpful at all. They also lack the the different options of Chinese tea, surprisingly. The bakery was bad, felt like chewing on plastic with some of them...however the best part of was the fruits, watermelon and dragon fruit were my favourite, they also had melon and pineapple (soemtimes with plums and guavas).

The room itself was ok, like pretty standard and was big enough for one person, the bed was huge and was my favourite, they also offered different options/way to help you sleep, including scented spray, eye mask, ear plugs (but you had to request them); I slept so well. With the room type I picked I received "welcome gifts" which were just some fruits, plum and a few grapes, was hoping for more to be honest. They also offered free shows polish and shirt ironing services but I didn't get to use them this time. The bathtub and shower were AMAZING. The bathtub was deep enough and allowed me to sit and relax and reflect. Shower was powerful and managed to keep the water inside the shower itself. They also had a Bluetooth speaker that allowed me to play some music inside the room.

Room keeping on the other hand....i had my room cleaned and tidied twice, they didn't replenish my bottles of water on one occasion and I had to phone the front desk after returning to my room late and thirsty, and had to wait for them to bring them to me, expecting they should have been replenished. Also they could so with a bit more of writing paper and ink on the pens, I had to request another pen after a few sentences whilst on call and working from my room.

The walls between the rooms were quite thin and I often woken up by my neighbours slamming the door and chatting at 3 am, I reported it and thats what they said, thin walls...but I expected more from them, like compensation or complementary drinks.

The bar at the hotel (on the 8th floor) was alright, it was big enough but the drinks selection was lacking too, do not expect fancy cocktails or hand crafted beers. However we ordered two beers and they came with a wide selection of bar snacks, fried fish skins, peanuts and some other nuts. Unfortunately I didn't get to use the bar on higher floor simply didn't have the time to, I wish they open for longer at least till 1am, all of them close at 23:00...

The gym was 24hours which was convenient, however they need more equipment for a hotel that size...also it helps with stronger air conditioning. Having said that, they did provide refrigerated towels and water, so that's a plus. The pool seemed big enought but didn't get to use it this time.

Services were alright, pretty average, with the room type I picked and being their member, I kinda expected to be greeted with more perks. The "special lane" for checking in/out had no staff, waited there only for other people to push in...

Big hotel, Mostly friendly staff but do have some inconsiderate staff on occasions. Arrived 4pm and one room is not ready, as told to me was already cleaned but needed half an hour more to inspect. ( 45sq meters room needed that much time to inspect?) The room conditions were quite battled and old and chair leather was torn. Faucet always short and leaky when on and shower head always drooped. A tightening to the holder will do the trick. No red wine or welcome fruits for Accor members since they started rules changed from this month. Promised welcome drink vouchers when checking in but have to beg for it in the evening at the counter. Executive lounge cannot provide another complimentary guest even though I booked 2 rooms with platinum membership. Asked to pay 328 RMB for the additional guest. A big change since this month, the executive lounge do not offer any more menu choices, while Sofitel Foshan used to not have it but they now do have menu choices in the executive lounge! 328 RMB for some finger snacks food and drinks is not a good idea. Beer bottles were also kept away somewhere and has to asked for top up in a basin. There is clearly a fridge beside, but only for soft drinks. I stayed many Accor group properties including Sofitel Foshan, Sofitel Kunming, Pullman Lijiang, Thailand Pullman, Mgallery, Novotel, Mercure and Vietnam Mgallery Pullman and Novotel. They usually accorded complimentary visit to executive lounges for guests booked under my account. In guangzhou, home of Cantonese food, like dim sim, wanton noodles, however they are missing in their buffet breakfast, there is not a single drop of pork siew mai nor pork wanton in their steam and noodle sections ever since my stays in the last 4 trips, It is just a typical 4 -star hotel food spread. The housekeeping didn’t add another bath towel on 2nd day, perhaps had forgotten but hey, this is a 5-star hotel. A very busy hotel, perhaps cost cutting measures or what, need more improvements. I will look for other hotels in Guangzhou in...

I’ve stayed at this hotel many times, and I’ve even rented a conference room here for events, but this has been the worst experience. If it weren’t for a business trip where I needed to attend an event at the hotel, I would not recommend staying here.

Before my arrival, I asked the hotel if I could forgo my room upgrade privilege in exchange for executive lounge access (since both of my previous upgrades also included lounge access, but I didn’t have the chance to try it due to business trips). The hotel refused, stating that they couldn’t offer lounge access but would definitely upgrade our room. I asked what room type it would be, and they replied: Executive Luxury Room. I understand that this is the policy (Gold members do not receive lounge access, and upgrading to an executive room does not include lounge access). However, upon arriving at the hotel, no room upgrade was provided. I don’t understand why the hotel didn’t follow its own policy/commitment, especially when the only difference in room types is the floor, and the app still shows availability for the Executive Luxury Room.

Additionally, the hotel did not have heating at the time (our Luxury Room had large windows, which made insulation poor). After inquiring, they provided a portable heater, a Haier model priced under 200 RMB, with only two settings. We found that the high setting was too hot, and the low setting was too cold. The experience was terrible. I don’t understand why the hotel wouldn’t provide a multi-setting heater, which costs only 1/5 of the room price and would last for years, especially when the neighboring hotel, priced at half the cost, had one.

Finally, we left behind a box of chocolates at the hotel, which was a gift for my friend. After informing the hotel that we had left it on the bathroom counter, it still took them 2 hours (we had to call once to follow up) to find it. By that time, we had already left Guangzhou and had to use express delivery to send it...