The first thing that struck me about Harbour Plaza Hotel was its great location in the central business district of Jiefangbei of ChongQing.Just a stone's throw away was a foodstreet that had all the local delicacies of the region with hawkers selling their wares right into the night.On the left of the hotel were streets of shops that apparently catered more for the local Chinese market ( looking at the prices quoted for goods)and if one wanted something more upmarket, one would turn to the right of the hotel and one would find a large crowded pedestrian mall filled with branded designer goods and mid-market goods.The hotel itself was also connected to an upmarket shopping mall so it would have been easy to just pop in next door for a meal or to window shop or ice -skate( yes, there's a decent sized ice-skating rink in the mall).( I personally wouldn't shop here as prices were quite exorbitant)
The facade and the reception lobby of the hotel met my expectation of a 5 star hotel.The rooms were also clean and the staff were always polite and helpful. There were a few nice touches which struck me and which were not typically found in other similarly accredited hotels: -
(1) In the evening, housekeeping would drop by a canister of a local herbal tea brew in the room, with a card explaining the healthy benefits of the drink- I was grateful as I was experiencing a rather bad cough and the drink did help to soothe my sore throat.
(2) A card on the pillow gave a summary of the different types of pillows available for selection to get a better night's sleep eg for those with muscles aches and to ease tension, they recommended a natural buckwheat pillow and for those who needed to relax and desire a calming effect, the chrysanthemum pillow was recommended.
Breakfast was a buffet affair,with a selection of Chinese, Western and even Japanese cuisine and which was more than sufficient for a hearty breakfast or brunch(if one preferred as the restaurant only closed for breakfast at 10.30am).However, i was quite dismayed to find that the ceiling of the restaurant was quite shabby with wiring and pipes all being exposed above us. That sort-of marred my impression of the hotel.I had a legitimate expectation that a 5 star hotel would take pride in its appearances whether it is on the facade and exterior of the building or within the confines of its walls.
In the evening, I took some time to visit the indoor pool on the 6th floor and found it a very pleasant 26 degrees celsius. There is also a roof garden on the 10th floor where you could have a good view of the pretty city night lights around the vicinity of the hotel.
The room , although clean , was rather standard for a 5 star hotel- beds were comfortable; decor nothing exceptional; TV channels were plentiful with satellite and local channels; bathroom amenities were sufficient and pretty standard.One thing bothered me was that the airconditioner did not seem to work and even though I was there in September, the weather was still rather warm so I would have liked to be able to retire into a cool room after a day's walk outside. Alas , it was not to be. When I dialed housekeeping to inform them that I thought the air-conditioner had broken down, they politely told me that there was nothing wrong with the airconditioner and that the hotel had switched their main unit to fan mode; there would be no cool airconditioning during this season ie autumn.I then asked if I could open the windows to allow fresh air and some breeze in as they were locked with screws and they sent a maintenance personnel promptly to see to it done.
I would have liked that the hotel would have given the choice to the guest to either use the airconditioner or switch the unit to fan mode and I would have expected that from a 5 star hotel.
The room here was booked via an agent and i was told that a night here inclusive of breakfast was RMB500 which I felt was quite reasonable for a 5 star hotel.
Generally, I would recommend this hotel to others mainly because of its great location and the few simple gestures of the tea and the pillows which one does not normally find even in other 5 star establishments. But I guess, I would probably like to stay only if the weather is cool or if they do allow one to have some sort of airconditioning in the room.
- Harbour Plaza Haiyi Chongqing
