InterContinental Nanjing — Hotel in Nanjing City

My last stay at Intercontinental Nanjing was less than satisfying. Nothing big but many small problems made it impossible to enjoy:

After check in, I was told that even Platinum members have to pay for wifi, and I had to call IHG to find out it’s not true. The room is small and crowded, with some funny things which you don’t find normally in an Intercontinental hotel room, such as advertisement of some local club. The wall decoration behind the beds is peeling off. I was worrying if it would fall on me during my sleep. The carpet needs to be cleaned. The curtains aren’t installed correctly. With all the light, I woke up every morning at 6 am. The ipod dock is stupidly placed, and if you want to put your ipod in the dock, the dock sticks out of the table and can fall out. The base of the sound system doesn’t work at all. The working desk has various stains which can’t be removed and feel dirty. The lighted mirror in the bathroom doesn’t work. Someone nocked on the door before 9 in the morning just to ask if I have some clothes to wash. I ordered some porridge at 12:15 am and it only showed up almost 30 minutes later, half cold, bizarrely long for something you just heat up and pour into a bowl. Even clearly stated on the menu there are salted eggs coming with, I didn’t find any. I was completely disgusted by the changing room of the pool and gym. I’ve found a used bandit in the steam room lying around for two days, a pair of dirty sport shoes in the dry sauna so the oder and humidity could be extracted by the heat, a guy spitting on the ground when people are walking around in bare feet, a naked guy singing horribly with the tv for half hour (no exaggeration, the whole time when I was there), and the tv can’t be turned off… … The installations are very badly maintained and look cheap.

For most of the above mentioned problems, I have taken pictures, except in the changing room. So if you need any verification, I will be happy to provide.

The location is very centred, but it also means it takes forever to get out of there. I spent 30 minutes in jam on my way to the airport, and the total journey lasted 1 hour plus.

Considering the fact that it is one of the most expensive hotels in town, I will have to suggest everyone to stay away from it. I can’t believe anyone would opt for it when so many good alternatives are just...

Unsatisfactory Accommodation Experience

Despite my repeated requests for a thorough cleaning of my room prior to my arrival, the cleanliness did not meet the standards expected of a five-star hotel. Upon entering the room, I was immediately greeted by an unpleasant oily odor, and noticeable oil stains were present on the carpet (please see the attached photo for reference).

Inefficient Communication and Customer Service

I made my reservation on August 6, 2024, and contacted the hotel on August 7 to detail my accommodation requests via email. Unfortunately, after sending three emails, my requests were ignored, and there was no acknowledgment from the hotel before my phone call.

Double Charge and Inefficient Refund Process

I paid the full accommodation fee of CNY 3,491.19 upon reservation and an additional CNY 4,000.00 as a deposit upon arrival. Upon checkout, I noticed that the deposit was not fully refunded, resulting in a double charge for the accommodation. Despite numerous communications with the hotel and IHG China service center, I was informed that the accommodation fee of CNY 3,491.19 had been paid to the IHG group account, but InterContinental Nanjing was unaware of this payment.

I was surprised by the confusing and inefficient internal arrangement of IHG, and till now, with repeatedly asking me private and duplicate questions (I.e. Full Name, bank account, payment screenshot, etc), I have not yet received my payment refund.

My Requests

I have joined the IHG membership recently after several satisfactory accommodation experience with Suzhou Kimpton, Intercontinental Suzhou, etc, and IHG became my first choice during my work trip and holiday.

However, the whole experience in InterContinental Nanjing really disappointed me. To be honest, I will not pay for the Intercontinental ambassador and open the credit card for IHG if that experience happened earlier.

Thus, I hope the issues could be solved with my expectations. My requests are as follows:

Immediate refund of the outstanding amount.

A written apology from InterContinental Nanjing addressing the issues mentioned (a phone call is not acceptable).

Reasonable compensation from IHG Group for the inconvenience experienced (preferably not from InterContinental Nanjing, as I will not consider that...

Firstly, the bathtub in the room was not working and remained unrepaired even after my checkout. As a five-star landmark hotel, despite its long period of operation, this is still not an excuse for hotel management to fail in ensuring that all room facilities are in working order before guests check in.

Secondly, there were issues with the service attitude or working methods of the hotel staff. When I was having breakfast, no one greeted or asked if I needed coffee when I entered into the restauarnt, even though I avoided peak hours and several staff were chatting with each other. I went to get my own coffee from the coffee machine but I found that there was no milk. I asked a staff member nearby for help, and she brought over a carton of milk to replace the empty one IN the coffee machine. However, she rolled her eyes at me and said impatiently, "Can't you see there's no milk in the machine?" I was taken aback, but I didn't say anything. She walked away immediately. Later, I made my own coffee and continued eating. After a while, she brought over a cup of coffee and said she had made it for me. I thanked her but said I didn't need it because I had already made my own. She became angry again and said, "Why didn't you tell me?" She then walked away again. I was confused and very disappointed by this behavior.

Additionally, it seemed that the hotel was understaffed. I checked in at around 5 p.m., which is one of the peak times for the hotel front desk. However, there was only one staff member on duty, so many people were waiting in line. I had to wait for about 15-20 minutes before I could start the check-in process. The same was true for the hotel's Chinese restaurant on the 76th floor. My client and I were having lunch there, but no one came over or poured us a glass of water for the first 15 minutes after we were seated.

I reported the above issues to the duty manager of the hotel, but her response was merely to ask for a high rating rather than offering any practical solutions to address the problems.

Overall, the hotel's location is excellent, food is ok. Although it is somewhat old, the bedding is still very comfortable. However, the other aspects of the experience were...