Courtyard by Marriott Suzhou Mudu — Hotel in Suzhou City

The courtyard Suzhou Mudu is a value-oriented choice among the Marriott hotel chain in the Suzhou area. It is conveniently located near Jinfeng Road station on subway line 1. You can reach the subway station by taking the hotel elevator down to level B1, and then walk across a busy food court with many yummy choices and many local people. It is also about 3km away from a number of tourist attractions such as the Mudu Ancient town, the Lingyan Mountain Temple, and Tianping Mountain. |The hotel is co-located with the Sanyuna Shopping Mall, a large modern shopping mall full of playing, dining and shopping choices. It seems to be a favorite of the local young people. |Due to its value-oriented position, the hotel can be quite crowded, especially during holidays as it may attract tourists from nearby metropolitan area such as Shanghai and Nanjing. During our visit during the Spring Festival of 2024, we notice that the hotel is very busy and a bit short of staffs. The executive lounge of the hotel is self-serving (with coffee, teas, soft drinks, and fruit) most of the hours, and offers hot dinner during 17:30-19:30pm. The lounge can be especially busy during the evening hours, as the attendant has to turn away the guests as the lounge runs out of tables. Those guests that are turned away are asked for their room number, and once a table became available, the assistant will call the room to inform the guests that a table became available. The hotel attendants are very busy with the large number of guests that they must entertain. However, I felt that the hotel staffs are doing a fair job in balancing the need of the guest and controlling the cost to the hotel. |The hotel offers breakfast buffet for Platinum Elite member at the 7th floor Pavilion restaurant. The breakfast includes made to order noodle, small wonton, and fried Jiaozi (yummy). There are also a number of food options such as porridge (plain, pumpkin, cereal), some hot dishes (Bok-Choy, Tofu Skin, Wood ear mushroom), pastries, fruit and a number of juices (from concentrated). The selection is small, but satisfactory, especially for people with local taste. The Pavilion restaurant doesn’t open for lunch and dinner during our visit. The guests are steered towards the food court in the co-located shopping mall. |The hotel doesn’t have a swimming pool, only an exercise facility. |Overall, I feel that this courtyard is a good budget option for a value-oriented vacation in the...

This hotel perfectly met our needs. Suites offer a large living room area if you require extra space. While still new at the time of this review, the staff works hard to not only meet your needs but also anticipate them. I wish we had gotten the names of all the wonderful staff, but the two that stand out most are Vicky, the Front Office Manager, and the chef in the black jacket at the egg and noodle station. There were many others, including The Lounge (lobby level bar/restaurant) staff where we enjoyed tea and snacks with our Platinum status. (The executive lounge is currently only open from 5:30pm onward.) They quickly learned our preferences and provided excellent service. This hotel is doing a great job with their staff. Many, but not all, speak English. We did not have any issue with those who were unable to speak English, but those who spoke English were exceedingly helpful with any requests (mainly dietary) that we had. Their breakfast spread (in Pavilion on the 7th floor) is one of the best we have seen in our travels at over 50 Marriotts worldwide. They even had a little gluten free bread area, and vegetarians will not go hungry. Their executive lounge (21st floor) also provided a good variety of evening food and beverages (white wine was Chardonnay). Be sure to try the duck eggplant amuse-bouche if it is on offer! Lounge access is well worth the price if you don't already have it included as part of elite status.||Directions:||Once you get to Suzhou, this hotel is easily accessible by Metro Line 1, Jinfeng Road stop, exit 1. After exiting, walk straight to the end of the mall and then turn right after Starbucks. You will see a sign and the hotel will be just ahead on the right. You can also cut through the mall before going out exit 1 for closer indoor access. Find Burger King and it's just across from BK's outdoor entrance.||For improvement:||We recommend having directions available at the front desk/concierge to popular tourist destinations. In particular, the canal areas best accessed via Line 2, Shantang Street...

The hotel has a good location in Suzhou - lots of eating place inside the mall adjacent to the hotel. There is also a great massage place around the corner, a perfect place to relax after your journey.||||A few things I'd like to point out which make this hotel stand out from the rest of the Marriott properties in the region:||1) the hotel has a great MASTER executive chef whose team can cook up some delicious dishes of local specialties. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the head chef. However, based on my dining experiences at the Executive Lounge and the restaurant on the 7th floor in the morning, I can tell you the food is all well prepared and cooked. They are excellent in color, aroma, and taste! What does this tell you? The master chef behind the operations CARES about his work and the hotel guests.||2) Executive Lounge staff members are super friendly, helpful and hardworking. Team leader Betty and team member Darcy and others are always there to help and make sure guests have what they need. The crew keeps the lounge very clean and organized at all times I visited there. Great job!||3) last but not least, the Front Office Manager, Ms. Gu, does a fantastic job in keeping things running. She is highly experienced, details oriented, and easy to help a guest whenever her assistance is needed. I am hoping that Ms. Gu can lead her team to run a better, smoother operation at the front desk to avoid the small hiccups that customers may experience from time to time.||||One suggestion to the hotel management - please make sure someone is by the rotating door to help customers on their arrival. Someone should be there at all times, if possible. If it's difficult to do this at late night, please have someone there during the day. It's strange to see no one to greet/help you upon arrival, especially if that's your first time at the hotel. First impression matters!||||Overall, great place to stay. Super good value for the price you pay. If you want to take the metro, it's 2 minutes walk...