Crowne Plaza Hotel Zhengzhou — Hotel in Zhengzhou

Bad luck with Crown Plaza again||I must admit that I had no positive experience with almost any Crown Plaza I stayed in the past years, and this time Crown Plaza Zhengzhou in Henan province China really made me decide that I will not stay with any Crown Plaza again.||I was in Zhengzhou for a short stay to meet a potential business client, and Crown Plaza was located in the CBD where the client was. Some research on the net showed mixed experiences but overall no dramatically negative comments, and therefore I clicked to confirm my booking with reward points for one night.||Location was in the CBD vicinity and the premises looked it had its golden age passed long ago. Front desk staff was polite but not proactive nor attentive. During check-in process they had always been distracted by people jumping the queue with all sorts of funny questions and requests. Someone assigned to do the house keeping at front desk during peak hours would manage the situation much better.||The room was small but adequate for my purposes although the nostalgic deco was not to my taste. Flat panel TV but in smallish size. Primitive bath room consisted of a toilet bowl next to a bathtub which served also as a make-do shower booth with a plastic curtain. ||The room was unusually warm when I entered after check-in and I noticed that air condition was not functioning, but I didn’t deal with it because I had to rushed to the appointment and thought that it might work out fine when I was back. However my wish was not materialised and the air-conditioning was just not working at all. ||Checking with the front desk and I was told the air-conditioning was not activated because the weather just turned warm after a cold spell and it might cool down again in the evening! But it was 6:30 pm, and my room was like 30°C+ after a day’s sunlit without air-conditioning for cooling down. I was offered options to either keep the small 1/4 part of window open, or changed to another room also without functioning air conditioning. I declined the offers because 1) keeping the widow open would allow inflow of noise and unpleasant odour from the kitchens nearby 2) change to another room without functional air-conditioning would be waste efforts. ||So I decided to checked out after only a few hours of checking-in, without any refund of points or compensation. I didn’t mind that because I really wanted to get away from it, and moved to the InterContinental nearby.||This time, plus all past less than pleasant experiences with Crown Plaza in different cities in China and in Europe, I decided to take it out from my listing of preferred hotel...

I stayed here for 1 night for business. The hotel has a beautiful, spacious lobby and has really nice character to it. However, the room did feel a little outdated.||Pros:|Friendly, professional staff. The front desk all spoke adequate English. They also provide transportation to the airport for a fee.|Several restaurants on premise. I ate dinner at the café and it was decent.|Delicious breakfast offered – freshly squeezed juice, omelette station, mix of western and Chinese foods. |Good location – there are 2 bank ATM’s across the street, about 5 minutes walking. They both accept USA ATM cards for those who need cash.|Fast, reliable WIFI|Very comfortable bed|Outlets in room are compatible with 2-prong USA plugs||Cons:|The bathroom has an automatic, motion sensor light. Problem is, it goes off after a couple of minutes. It was difficult taking a shower and having the light turn off constantly.|The bathtub has a shower head but nowhere for it to be hung from. You will need to hold the shower head...

In general, nice stay. I would come back, but there is room for improvement in some areas.

The good:

1- Room was very nice. It might not fit all styles, but it was spacious, new, good quality and, to me, nicely designed. I have a good night of rest.

2- Food was good. Both room service, Breakfast and pizza at the Italian place were solid. Actually I really liked the pizza

3- Lounge was AWESOM almost empty, perfect for working. Did not try the food though (mostly Chinese food)

The bad:

1-The property was under heavy construction for renovation. No noise though.

2- I had two glasses of red wine and both were in bad condition. Staff needs some training around this, not their fault.

3- It took some effort to get lunch "to go" as many of the associates did not understand my request. Once I got it, it was great and properly packaged

With just a bit of effort this can become a great property, as most of the issues were either temporary or fixable with...