Tongli Lake Resort — Hotel in Suzhou City

Ever since the loosening of the one child policy more and more kid friendly hotels have popped up in china. We arrived at tongli lake resort after reading reviews from local tourist and its proximity to shanghai. It has been around for about 4 years and has been reputed to be one of the best kid friendly hotel in china. The journey from shanghai took us about 1.5hours drive. The hotel occupies a huge area overseeing the lake which also makes it perfect for a couple retreat. Enter the main lobby one is greeted with huge chandeliers and luxury fabric couches. The reception area also has small tables and chairs to keep children entertained while parents do their checkin. My wife booked a balcony room. The rooms were big and we absolutely loved it. The toilet ceramics were with Toto while and wet works with Grohe. There were 2 sinks, a rain shower and a bath tub. The best part was the fully automatic toilet bowl which lifts up the toilet bowl cover as you approach. The seats and water was warm making it perfect for the cool weather. Beds were huge and the 3 of us manage to comfortably snug in. A sign stood at the pantry saying "we don't need your tip, we are satisfied as long as you have a good experience" therefore the least they deserve is a good review||Service-|I have to make special mention of the service. The staff here has gone beyond the level of being well trained and professional. They were empowered and felt the need to host you well. Right from the time we walked in we felt the warmth and genuinely welcomed. The did the things not because they needed to but because they wanted to. Customer feedback was important and they acted immediately. For example, at lunch my wife complained that the seafood was no good, they immediately went to the kitchen to check and waived it off the bill. It happened another time at dinner and the manager asked us if we'd like it cooked specially for us. During a table tennis session the ball lost its bounce. We told the staff and he climbed on the ladder to retrive loose balls up on the ceiling! There were so many excellent staff here that its unfair to name one over another. Being a hotel centred around children also presented additional challenges. Apart from being hospitality staff, they needed to know how to interact with children and expect messy tables and rooms everytime but they handled it very well. ||Facilities-|There are many facilities here to use. There are indoor playgrounds for ages till about 12 so its perfect for all ages. My girl particularly liked the sand digging room (well its not really sand, they used some kind of seed). There was also video game rooms for the older children. There was an indoor swimming pool. Childrens pool has balls in them with life guards. Adult pool is abt 25m. Swimming cap compulsory for hygiene reasons. Swimsuits and cap available for purchase here. No ripoff prices, abt 100rmb for trunks. There were also outdoor playgrounds and swings overlooking the lake perfect for summer. There was a boutique store that sells bag, scarfs and daily essentials at normal prices(8rmb for toothpaste). The staff mentioned that these were made available for convenience rather than revenue. There were so many other facilities that i have not mention to keep my review compact.||Food-|Unlike Intercontinental at Thousand Island Lake , the food here was affordable and good. We ate at their chinese restaurant at phase 1.. 4 adults for 400rmb. Dinner buffet was buy 3 get 1 free at 514rmb. The pastries looked and tasted good.||Whether you are a single traveller looking to unwind, a couple looking for a romantic retreat or a family with young children to entertain, Tongli Lake Resort has something to offer you. It gets extremely busy during the peak periods so its best to...

Ever since the loosening of the one child policy more and more kid friendly hotels have popped up in china. We arrived at tongli lake resort after reading reviews from local tourist and its proximity to shanghai. It has been around for about 4 years and has been reputed to be one of the best kid friendly hotel in china. The journey from shanghai took us about 1.5hours drive. The hotel occupies a huge area overseeing the lake which also makes it perfect for a couple retreat. Enter the main lobby one is greeted with huge chandeliers and luxury fabric couches. The reception area also has small tables and chairs to keep children entertained while parents do their checkin. My wife booked a balcony room. The rooms were big and we absolutely loved it. The toilet ceramics were with Toto while and wet works with Grohe. There were 2 sinks, a rain shower and a bath tub. The best part was the fully automatic toilet bowl which lifts up the toilet bowl cover as you approach. The seats and water was warm making it perfect for the cool weather. Beds were huge and the 3 of us manage to comfortably snug in. A sign stood at the pantry saying "we don't need your tip, we are satisfied as long as you have a good experience" therefore the least they deserve is a good review||Service-|I have to make special mention of the service. The staff here has gone beyond the level of being well trained and professional. They were empowered and felt the need to host you well. Right from the time we walked in we felt the warmth and genuinely welcomed. The did the things not because they needed to but because they wanted to. Customer feedback was important and they acted immediately. For example, at lunch my wife complained that the seafood was no good, they immediately went to the kitchen to check and waived it off the bill. It happened another time at dinner and the manager asked us if we'd like it cooked specially for us. During a table tennis session the ball lost its bounce. We told the staff and he climbed on the ladder to retrive loose balls up on the ceiling! There were so many excellent staff here that its unfair to name one over another. Being a hotel centred around children also presented additional challenges. Apart from being hospitality staff, they needed to know how to interact with children and expect messy tables and rooms everytime but they handled it very well. ||Facilities-|There are many facilities here to use. There are indoor playgrounds for ages till about 12 so its perfect for all ages. My girl particularly liked the sand digging room (well its not really sand, they used some kind of seed). There was also video game rooms for the older children. There was an indoor swimming pool. Childrens pool has balls in them with life guards. Adult pool is abt 25m. Swimming cap compulsory for hygiene reasons. Swimsuits and cap available for purchase here. No ripoff prices, abt 100rmb for trunks. There were also outdoor playgrounds and swings overlooking the lake perfect for summer. There was a boutique store that sells bag, scarfs and daily essentials at normal prices(8rmb for toothpaste). The staff mentioned that these were made available for convenience rather than revenue. There were so many other facilities that i have not mention to keep my review compact.||Food-|Unlike Intercontinental at Thousand Island Lake , the food here was affordable and good. We ate at their chinese restaurant at phase 1.. 4 adults for 400rmb. Dinner buffet was buy 3 get 1 free at 514rmb. The pastries looked and tasted good.||Whether you are a single traveller looking to unwind, a couple looking for a romantic retreat or a family with young children to entertain, Tongli Lake Resort has something to offer you. It gets extremely busy during the peak periods so its best to...

We were happy with our stay here. The room was nicer than it looked online, and the hotel was really clean. There are playrooms for young children that are free (3 rooms with some different toys in each room). The rooms are a bit old and tired, but my 2 year old enjoyed playing there and requested UK hi back lots of times. For parents it is just great to have somewhere for your kid to play and have fun, especially as the weather was very cold when we went! Outside there is a play area and sand digging pit. Location is walking distance from Tongli old town. Restaurant does evening buffet, and buffet breakfast. The food is fine, more Chinese than western, my husband really liked it and my favourite part was the Beijing roast duck at dinner. The pool is warm, with floats and rubber rings to borrow. There is a little land train, it takes a 10 minute trip around the hotel grounds and the cost is 20RMB for one adult and child. For me it was very boring but my son loved it 😂The staff are very warm and friendly, everyone is very professional. Each guest is connected to a butler on wechat before they arrive so you can easily send a message and get some help. Our butler is Yu Ting and she helped us very professionally.For me, the things the hotel can improve are (1) the animal petting zoo - by western standard the facilities for the animals are not very good, just concrete enclosure with hut. For foreigners, we do not really like this. (2) We had a problem with the other guests smoking in the hotel, eg in the coffee bar. When I complained to the staff they tried to stop the guests, but even though they repeatedly reminded them to stop, the other guests continued. In the end they arranged for me to move to a private room near the bar where I could avoid the smoking. I was very grateful that they found a solution for me and my baby, but I am speechless there are such guests who flagrantly break the rules and the hotel cannot stop them. We smelled smoke in some different public areas, so maybe this is a problem with several guests 🙁Overall we are happy with our stay and it is a good place to spend a few...