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Haiyatt Garden Hotel, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
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I messed up the bed but hopefully this gives you an idea - comfy doona, luxuriously soft pillows
Stylish fittings in the bathroom
Flat screen TV in the bedroom; note cupboard space was a bit limited
Address: Chunxi Road East Section
I messed up the bed but hopefully this gives you an idea - comfy doona, luxuriously soft pillows
Stylish fittings in the bathroom
Flat screen TV in the bedroom; note cupboard space was a bit limited
Map of Haiyatt Garden Hotel
Address: Chunxi Road East Section (7 votes)
Ranked #3 out of 79 in Chengdu
Average price: $99
Reviews
After staying at the Crowne Plaza for four nights and then for three nights at the Tibet Hotel, I decided to stay here for my last night in Chengdu.
I had hesitated because the name of the hotel--Haiyatt--sounded a little like a joke.
A Tibet Hotel bell staff, despite my tipping had wrongly instructed the cab driver and the driver refused to go near the hotel, so I had to walk a 100m or so dragging my suitcase to the hotel, but there is a way to get to the front of the hotel. Just say Isetan department store and they'll know.
The check-in was smooth. Despite the decidedly Western and international feel, the front desk staff spoke absolutely no English. But they were very patient with my not so great Chinese. And also, you don't really have to speak much to check in to the hotel since the hotel website reservation system was pretty good.
The room was amazing. It felt like one of better (real) Hyatt Hotels. Generous space, a huge room for a standard room rate. Comfortable bed and good quality comforter (a huge plus). This hotel is the only one that had a big flat-screen TV with many channels including a Korean and Singaporean ones. There was a soft-porn channel which was a little puzzling. Nothing too scandalous but it was definitely not for kids. If you have small to teenage kids you might want to ask about parental control?
The room was really clean, great decor (understated and tasteful). You also get fresh fruits, complimentary mineral water bottles.
The bathroom area was also very minimalist-fashionable, all the fixtures shining new. Probably because it was a standard room that I only got a shower stall, no bathtub. You might want to make sure you get a tub if you are into taking a bath. The shower stall was again very spacious and came with good quality toileteries, shampoo & conditioner, etc with eucaryptus oil.
The only glitch with the room was that even though the room door looked pretty sturdy, it was very thin. I could hear someone speaking on her cell phone outside my room very loudly. But then, you can ask people to turn it down.
One of the things I appreciated most was it was a new hotel, so the carpet must have been clean and the ventilation system not too clogged with dust and germs, the air felt clean in the hotel (unlike the hotel I stayed right before this one).
Another plus is the hotel is right next to two department stores with reasonably priced grocery stores open until 10 or 11pm. I could shop for souvenirs and snacks till late. The restaurants in these dept stores were decent.
The breakfast was almost surreal, with all the choices you can ever think of and the food was actually good. At the Crowne Plaza breakfast, the only faintly meat-like item was lunchmeat and their dumplings were hard and cold. At the Tibet Hotel you had to ask for coffee three or four times before you get any. But at Haiyatt they will immediately bring your coffee, and they even bring you freshly cooked scrambled eggs and ask you if you would like some. It was a bit of an overkill, but you can have definitely small to very big breakfast of your choice. There was even a hot-pot bar and sushi bar for breakfast. The staff was very polite, attentive and pleasant.
I wonder if the hotel can maintain its level of service for long--Crowne Plaza used to be so much better and now it has become rather disappointing, I'd recommend that you give Haiyatt a try while it's still very new and is with enthusiasm to impress the customers.
If I were a regular visitor to Chengdu I'd be selfish and keep this hotel my own secret :)
There is a lot to like about this place.
Pluses:
1) The location is excellent, right in the center of town. From here you can really explore the downtown on foot, a nice touch. In addition there is a Chengdu tourist information center about 50 feet away.
It is a little difficult to find as others have mentioned. If you print out the map with Chinese street names from their website your taxi driver should have no trouble finding it.
2) The rooms are very well appointed and breakfast buffet is included in the price. There is wifi in the lobby.
Downsides:
If you need help getting around do not count on the concierges. In addition to speaking limited English they couldn't give me recommendations for the simplest things. For example "where can I get authentic Sichuan cuisine?': Answer, a circle around an entire neighborhood 20 minutes way. Anyone who has been to China knows there are probably 100 restaurants in a block, specifics are necessary!
Other than that this place is totally worth the price.
Also FYI there is a supermarket in the basement of the Isetan department store next door to the place in case you want to get cheap snacks.
Fabulous value, everything exceeds my expectation, I've no single complaint over the experience it gave me throughout my 3 days stay. It absolutely gives 'Hyatt' quality and standard from all aspects yet with a fantastic value in term of room rates!
This is a great hotel, a nice surprise; consider hotels are a little bit more expensive here in Chengdu.
The hotel is a little hard to find, but the location is great.
There is a department store on the 1st few levels, few nice restaurants and a Massage place there, too. It was nice to come back to the hotel and you don't need to go out to get good food. Chengdu can be a little chaotic sometimes for westerners. The Massage place is clean and cheap.
The hotel room has that W hotel feel. Younger crowd would love it, and probably not too popular with the retirement crowd. My grandma complained the slate floor in the shower is a little slippery.
The breakfast opens early @ 6am. The selection is good and competitive with other 5 star hotels.
I believe we paid little over 600 rmb including breakfast.
I agree with the other posters that this hotel was a real deal - high season seems to be 510RMB now - with better service and furnishings than much more expensive hotels.
The room is very large, with a good work area. The free broadband internet was very reliable, and in fact less blocked than other locations in China.
The breakfast was indeed plentiful and available from 6am to 10am.
Coffee is better than average.
The location is very convenient - near the pedestrian area, as well as a few supermarkets.
I agree that few locals knew the location, but they all know the Isetan department store.
I'm staying in Chengdu for a month for work, and will stay here for two weeks in a hotel. Fortunately, that gave me a lot of time to check out hotels and prices - so I went in person and looked at the rooms and facilities of the Sheraton Lido, Crowne Plaza, Yinhe and Sichuan Hotel, as well as the Haiyatt. I ended up choosing the Haiyatt.
Get past the fairly dodgy rip-off of the Hyatt brand name (it's unrelated to the Hyatt hotel group), and the Haiyatt is truly a find - at only US$77 a night, it was cheaper than all but the Sichuan Hotel and in my view, was much, much better than any of the others.
In terms of the rooms, they're very impressive. They're pretty much brand new. Marble bathrooms, large flat-screen LCDs, very tasteful furnishing, and excellent (if firm) beds. There are nice touches throughout - small dim night lights that can be activated separately for those midnight bathroom trips, smart card activated doors rather than your usual key, etc.. My one complaint is that the toilets (as with many in China) don't handle toilet paper, so you need to toss your toilet paper in a bin rather than the toilet. Anyway, the rooms were much, much nicer than any of the other abovementioned hotels. We chose a suite (i.e. with a lounge room) and it was nice and spacious. The standard room is a reasonable 30 sqm (~310 sq feet?). I'll post some pics if I get around to taking some, but the website is fairly accurate in showing the rooms (www.haiyattchengdu.com/en/hotel_info_01.htm)
The breakfast is EXCELLENT - my mum has come to visit me and she mentioned that this breakfast is the best she's had in China (she travels through multiple Chinese cities several times a year on business). A great selection of Chinese and Western dishes - congee, dim sum, noodles amongst others on the Chinese side; bacon, smoked salmon, etc. and eggs to order on the Western side. I ate at the Shangri-La breakfast buffet and I'd say they were pretty much comparable - the difference being the Shangri-La costs 4x as much as the Haiyatt.
Location is fantastic - near a very new and flashy (for Chengdu anyway) shopping district. It's also great for business - I worked on Ti Du Street and it was less than 10 mins walk (it's about a 5 min walk to the Crowne Plaza which is similarly well located).
Lastly, service is very good. I can't truly judge the service at the other hotels as my only exposure was when I asked to be shown around, but the Crowne Plaza, Yinhe and Sichuan felt fairly underwhelming. The Sheraton was excellent.
Downsides - The gym is adequate rather than great - three treadmills and a stepper, three weight machines, and one bench with dumbbells up to 50 lbs. (The Crowne Plaza had the best gym out of the hotels I saw). There is no executive club if you're looking for something like that (go to the Sheraton if this is important to you as they have a nice one - the Crowne Plaza's club looks old and shabby, much like the rooms). The entrance and lobby is decent but very small and not particularly impressive, but that didn't bother me in the slightest.
Tips:
This hotel is very hard to find, and most taxi drivers don't seem to know it. The best thing is to tell them to go to the Isetan (Yi Si Dan Bai Huo, I would guess) department store which shares the same building. Also, a previous review (which otherwise was very accurate) stated that an airport taxi ride should cost RMB100. My experience is that it should be closer to RMB60.
Also, I found it much cheaper to go to the hotel directly rather than book online (true for most of the hotels I approached, actually). Online, the cheapest I found was US$103 a night; after I spoke to the reservations desk, I was given their lowest price of US$77, brekkie included. Basically, the prices I was quoted (there was a conference in town so they weren't as cheap as low season):
Standard room: US$77 (RMB518) - no bath-tub
Deluxe room: US$91 (RMB608) - a bit bigger, plus flashy-looking bathtub
Executive suite: US$110 (RMB738) - separate lounge room, no bath tub
A basic room in the Sheraton was going for about US$130 (a suite was almost double) and the Crowne Plaza (which had terrible, tired-looking rooms) quoted me close to US$200 (!!!) for the same period.
The Hiayatt Garden Hotel opened in Chengdu in November 2007. It is located in the center of the city with access to modern shopping areas. It is about 40 minutes (100RMB by taxi) from the airport.
The rooms are excellent, the staff is courteous and helpful and there is always someone in the lobby who speaks English. Amenities include fresh fruit, flat panel TV with several English channels.
At 468RMB per night (breakfast buffet included), this is a great value.