Tongli Lake View Hotel - Suzhou — Hotel in Suzhou City

We stayed at this hotel for 3 nights with our 10 month old during Golden Week.Pros:- Hotel is self-contained and there is no need to leave the hotel. There are large and well-maintained grounds for our daily walks with baby, including museums and traditional pagodas dotted throughout the property. There is a chinese, western (steak, pizza) and japanese (teppanyaki) restaurant within the hotel. There is also a kids play room and swimming pool, along with some other kid friendly activities like rabbit feeding and games on the lawn.- The hotel is right next to the lake and is quite beautiful. It's very relaxing to stroll along the lake. - There is an ancient town about 15 minutes walk from the hotel's main lobby. There is a free hotel shuttle to and from the ancient town too.- Staff are generally friendly and helpful- Large, family-friendly rooms are available. We stayed in a lake view suite, which was just right for us and our baby. - Hotel is affordable by international standards - Hotel is less than 2 hours drive from Shanghai, where we live- We particularly enjoyed the teppenyaki restaurant where you can get a private room and a private chef to cook your meals - Despite it being Golden Week, we didn't feel that the hotel was too crowded. Perhaps because the hotel has large grounds. Cons- The baby cot given to us had an extremely thin and uncomfortable mattress. To compensate, we were given a comforter to pad the mattress. However, this is unsafe for younger babies, who should sleep on a firm surface. - The property and facilities are a bit dated- There were very loud weddings on the lawn facing the lake each day that we were at the hotel. The loud music and emceeing disturbed the peaceful ambience of the place, and also disrupted baby's morning and afternoon naps. For families with children who still need to nap in the day, it may be better to stay in a quieter garden view room instead of a room...

Although a very large hotel it remains quite personable with friendly and highly accommodating staff. The rooms are spacious and are well equipped (office desk, sofa, large TV, safe, kettle, bottled water & loads of complimentary bits) although the furniture is starting to look a little dated/worn. The bathrooms appear to have been updated and are clean & bright. As a Westerner it would be great to have some UHT milk for the complimentary tea/coffee. The main restaurant serves a buffet breakfast and dinner both if which there are many different dishes to choose from; you're never stuck for choice!! Make sure you take a walk in the grounds to admire the views...

The hotel has excellent facilities, and the health club is particularly impressive, including a large indoor swimming pool, sauna, steam room, hot tub and a well-kitted gym. The staff are very friendly and attentive all round the hotel. The room was clean, spacious with comfortable beds. The buffet restaurant had plenty to offer for breakfast, particularly on the...