I used to stay at Niccolo, which isn't far, whenever I visited Chengdu. The last time I was here a few years ago, I stayed at the Grand Hyatt and thought it was excellent, both affordable and good. So this time, I decisively chose the Grand Hyatt again, but it turned out to be a terrible experience from the start.
First, the booking process. I saw a group buying package for the hotel and automatically assumed it would be cheaper than booking directly, so I bought it and then made the reservation. To my surprise, after booking, I found out that direct booking was actually cheaper! But the group purchase couldn't be canceled. When I brought this up with the front desk upon arrival, they were very responsible and tried to communicate with various departments, but the hotel still refused to cancel my group order and let me rebook.
Next, the room. Overall, it was maintained reasonably well. However, the air conditioning was a major issue. No matter how I set it, the lowest it would go was around 25 degrees Celsius. It was okay during the day, not too hot in the room, but at night, sleeping under the duvet, it felt incredibly warm. I had to ask the hotel for a fan to cool down. Can you imagine using a fan for cooling in a five-star hotel room?
And the internet speed! It was absolutely awful, like going back to the 3G, no, even 2G era. I couldn't even open a review app to check for nearby food options; I had to use my own data almost the entire time.
The hotel's swimming pool was indeed quite good, a bit more fun than just a rectangular pool like in other hotels. But the management was chaotic. Firstly, perhaps for profit, the hotel rented out the pool to training institutions for swimming lessons, so it was full of children. Secondly, these children were playing and messing around in the hot tub area of the pool, seriously affecting the experience, and there were no staff members to manage them.
Finally, the service. Most of the hotel staff were excellent; Grand Hyatt hotels across China generally have very good service. However, there were a few individual staff members, like the auntie at the breakfast noodle station, whose attitude was like a family elder running a street-side stall, not a star hotel employee. Also, one evening, it was quite late, past 10:30 PM, when we arrived at the executive lounge. Perhaps the staff were in a hurry to pack up and leave, as they completely ignored us and seemed reluctant when we asked for a cup of coffee.
Overall, this experience was a huge step down from my first visit. If I go to Chengdu again, I'll probably choose Niccolo.
Original TextTranslation provided by AI
