The Lalu Qingdao — Hotel in Qingdao

My family came to attend a wedding banquet. The hotel required full payment for our room reservation which we did well in advance and sent them confirmation of remittance. Close to the wedding day, they informed the host, they found did not receive my remittance. But they did not come to me at all. At the end, they found my remittance. How embarrassing they chose to handle it ! ||On checking in, it took them 30 minutes to locate our bookings ( they don't have a reservation ref no. system despite I asked for it well in advance.)||Over the banquet, all dishes were serviced below lukewarm temperature, all the stuff were laid snoopily over the side counters within guest visibility, lot of young part time attendants , had no idea what banquet is, they sat on the floor on the hallway towards to bathrooms, while they thought they had nothing to do ( totally lack of job eagerness) . The banquet managress stood on the side eagerly, yet there were too many issues for her to rectify.||The reception and concierge staff are pleasant, again, once they came across problems, they could only extend apology but little solution . ||Inside guest rooms, they are nice, spacious and well equipped. Be prepared for long walking distance from elevators to your room, from floors to floors. Lack of proper signage for directions within the hotel. ||It is located in a quiet corners about 45 minute drive from downtown Qingdao in a peninsular across the sea from Qingdao. The area is aimed to develop to be a resort area, yet they are years from meeting the goal. If you are looking for resort not far away from city, you could have lot of better choices in...

Friendly staff, and beautiful property! ||Probably the most impressive place in Qingdao! The scenic drive near the windmills that leads to the Lalu mads us all very excited. As our car entered the zen property, we were greeted by staff immediately. Our eyes were moved from one detail to another - a huge sand garden in the middle, birds in two tall cages, the Taoist chairs. The lobby stairway reminds me of Park Hyatt in Ningbo.||The room is "as seen on their website", the pictures are true representations of the actual decor in the room - the desk, sofa, coffee table, tv, beds and open bath. The balcony is really that huge. There have connecting rooms, but we just thought it might be a bit silly to have 2 identical rooms in that setting, connected. One suite and a smaller room with no living room is better for me and my husband with our 2 boys. ||The gym has a seaview, but not where the treadmills are, which is a shame. The Chinese restaurant was very good - order the roast duck, tomatoes in plum sauce, burdock and of course the local seafood and vegetables. The Italian restaurant was not very attractive though. The bar looks amazing but they were doing some sort of training so I didn't bother. Breakfast was ok but not great, but has a huge variety you are sure to find something that you like. ||Maintenance of a property like that must be great because a seaside property gets worn out quickly if management is not careful. I saw many parts still under renovation. I hope this property will stay beautiful for my...

The check in process was so disorganized so the front desk manager decided to give us an upgrade. You would think everything would go great after this, but no. Everything just went downhill afterwards. The buffet restaurant had no food at 8pm, and they charged about 298RMB. At breakfast, the food was gone by 9am, everything was pretty much empty unless you ask them to make some more. At the restaurant they have no host to take you to a table, it’s a free for all. So when you left your table unattended, someone might take your table when you return. For the spa, you can’t bill to your room, which is very inconvenient because you usually don’t bring your wallet to the spa at the hotel you stayed at. We also called the front desk about 6 times and no answer. At the end I had to gone downstairs to tell them we had AC problem. We asked for a bucket of ice for our room service but they forgot to bring it to us. I could go on and on about these little things you expected from a 5-star hotel, but they are missing at The Lalu in QingDao m. The looks, the location, the architecture, the designs are definitely 5-stars, however the service has to be equivalent to what they are advertising, and...