Novotel Rizhao Suning

I usually don't make much effort to write a complaining review after a stay, but in this case, the disappointment is too great not to. The first night we arrived and needed a little evening activity came first disappointment. The lobby bar is closed, and the only thing you can enjoy are the few refreshments that are in the minibar in the room. I would never have written the review if that were the only issue. In the room, we found leftovers from previous visitors, such as cuts of nails on the bathroom floor. A plastic water bottle cap was on the floor, which is not a big problem, but it indicates that the room hasn´t been adequately cleaned between guests. We informed the reception about our findings, and the room was rechecked by the staff, who removed the findings. As I walk around to check the other facilities, I see, to my great disappointment, that the swimming pool is under repair and has been for six months. One of the reasons we chose the hotel was precisely that there should be a swimming pool. As we complained about our distress at the reception, a concise answer was, “It is written on the booking site”. We rechecked the booking site and found it rightly written in tiny print at the bottom of the page. On the other hand, in regular letters, it still says at the top of the page that the hotel has a swimming pool. On the second day, we wanted to have dinner at the hotel restaurant, and we even checked the Chinese app before we took the elevator down to the seventh floor. But again, a huge disappointment, the restaurant was closed. Others than us went there in vain, and no information was to be found about it was closed. We went to the restaurant in the morning, and there was an excellent variety of food in the buffet. Typically Chinese, so I won´t recommend it to people that don´t fancy Chinese morning cuisine. My food was nice, and the friendly staff that spoke a few English words made it an excellent start to the day.

I chose this hotel due to the Novotel brand name. I was seeking a known level of cleanliness and facilities by choosing the brand. I was disappointed, although I recognise that this hotel was not expensive. The main signs of a hotel in China catering mainly to locals are (1) sand ask trays at the elevator lobbies for people to spit phlegm into (2) condoms as the most prominent minibar item and (3) breakfast options are all Chinese. This hotel featured all 3 of those things. My bathroom has blood spatter stains on the blinds, the curtains were stained. Finally, the hotel is miles from central Rizhao, which I should have checked when I booked. It was very inconvenient.

A new hotel in Rizhao. The area where it is located is not the nicest in Rizhao, but the hotel is very good, with big, well equipped rooms and friendly staff. Very nice gym (did not visit the swimming pool). Breakfast is at Chinese hotel standards, which is not my favourite. Overall, very good hotel.

A great variety of food on offer from Chinese food to Western food. My Room is quite big and kept clean and the Laundry Service is excellent. There is an Executive Lounge on the 22nd Floor where long term visitors (Mainly Western people) can have free food and beer/wine. Also a Swimming Pool on the 10th Floor.

The hotel was ideally located for our purpose. We had a large room on the top floor that was clean and had all the amenities. Breakfast buffet was extensive, much more than I could handle. There is a lobby bar with friendly service. Service was outstanding in the way that one of the managers drove behind us to bring a - stupidly - forgotten passport to the airport. Any criticism? Yes, please do something about the far too loud looping song in the elevator. A torture after a busy day!.