Luxury Hotel Review of an Urban Oasis Shangri-La Guangzhou

Picture this…. coming off a nice relaxed 2 hour flight, where we are greeted by a very excited man (and I mean very excited!), holding up a Shangri-La Guangzhou sign with our name on it. “HELLO!!!” He shouted from a distance as we rushed up to us, took our hand luggage and led us from the arrivals gate to the baggage collection.

He was moving at such a pace that we had to almost run to keep up with him!! The luggage carousel was very slow and took a while to bring our luggage around, when we saw our luggage finally coming around over the other side, this lovely gentleman literally jumped over other people’s trolleys and luggage to quickly grab our bags and ran out again to meet the hotel car, our short time with him was such an adventure!

We arrived at the hotel approx. 45mins later, we walked in a little gob-smacked!! The lobby is beautiful (don’t you think?). We proceeded to the front desk where we were checked very quickly.

Room –

We booked the Premier Riverview Room and as the name suggests, it does in fact have a river view of the Pearl River, which you can enjoy through the Floor-to-ceiling windows. The small make up mirror near the window was a great spot to take in the incredible views or do your make up.

The large king size bed, made sleeping easy and we had plenty of room to really stretch out.

The room also has a nice work desk and in the top draw is a few amenities such as ruler, sticky tape, highlighter scissors, paper clips, a pen and earplugs! They have thought of everything!

The bathroom consisted of a bath tub and separate shower (with rotating shower heads) and premium Shangri-La toiletries, I love the shampoo and conditioner, I know I never have to bring any with me, it always leaves my hair silky smooth!

Pool –

The Shangri-La Guangzhou hotel has 2 pools onsite:

Indoor Swimming Pool 6am – 11pm
Outdoor Swimming Pool (Closed from November to April) 7am – 9pm

Dining options –

The Shangri-La Guangzhou has 5 Restaurants & 3 Bars:

CoolThai – CoolThai creates an exciting “hip” dining and entertainment venue for the trend conscious and young of heart crowd. CoolThai’s signature dishes include beef salad with herb dressing, massaman curry beef, crispy grouper fillet and baked taro custard. Shangri-La Hotel, Guangzhou, is home to one of the best Thai restaurants in China.

Il Forno – Step into Italy with this authentic Italian restaurant, il Forno’s signature dishes comprise of Pan-fried Wild Seabass Served with Broccoli Rabe, Ham “Bruciantini” and Deep-fried Garlic and Squid Ink Risotto with Boston Lobster and Smoked Scamorza Cheese Sauce.

Nadaman – Nadaman restaurant offers a world-renowned Japanese fine dining experience in Guangzhou, where diners get a splendid view of the gardens, the city and the Pearl River .

Summer Palace – Savour the best of regional Chinese cuisine at Summer Palace, one of the classic Chinese restaurants in Guangzhou.

Wok TOO Café – WOK TOO Café features a “food theatre-style” concept serving a selection of Western, Chinese, Japanese and South East Asian cuisines, with a choice of à la carte and buffet specialities. Sat back and enjoy a stunning visual display of fresh products prepared, cooked and presented at live, interactive food stations by the team of chefs. Diners have a choice of indoor seating, private room or alfresco style .

Spa –

Unfortunately we did not get the chance to try the spa due to our short stay however the Chi spa has a very good reputation throughout all Shangri-La’s and we have tried many treatments through the Shangri-La’s and we always leave happy and relaxed.

Location –

Shangri-La Guangzhou hotel is situated in the heart of Guangzhou’s new business and commercial district and is adjacent to the Guangzhou International Convention Centre, which holds many conventions including the Canton Fair. The hotel is a short 40 minutes drive from the Baiyan International Airport.

Staff worth a Special mention –

Julie from the media team kindly took us to dinner to the WOK TOO Café as well as a tour of the hotel, we spent some time with her discussing the hotel, the Shangri-La Brand and general information about Guangzhou and China, it was nice to get some insight from a local.

Did the hotel fulfil our requests? –

We didn’t have any requests before arriving to the hotel and we didn’t request anything outside of the ordinary during our stay.

Did we have any issues during our stay –

No not at all, everything went smoothly. I would recommend getting to breakfast early though as the hotel was fully booked (although you couldn’t tell in the public areas) and breakfast at 9am was packed!!!!

Would we stay here again? –

Definitely! The room was large and comfortable, the views were great (although a little smoggy…), there were plenty of restaurants to choose from and plenty to do at the hotel. I love that the elevator has a little screen that gives you information about the hotel and its surrounds such as there is a complimentary daily shuttle that will take you to key locations in Guangzhou.

General Summary –

The Shangri-La Guangzhou really is an urban oasis, while walking around the lush green grounds and water fountains; it feels like you are out in the suburbs far away from the city.
We stayed here during the Canton Fair and found it to be in the absolute best location to access the Canton Fair at the Guangzhou International Convention Centre.

The hotel has its own tennis courts, golf putting green and it’s own running track. You have no reason to leave the hotel at all!!! Well expect if you want to see the sights.

We were luck enough to see a 1.6 meter “wedding dress” on display in the main foyer, we asked Julie if there was something special about it as it was made out of 40kg fondant sugar, she explained that it was made by the Executive Pastry chef and a team of 4-5 other (very talented) pastry chefs. The design was inspired by the Executive Pastry chefs wifes wedding dress, he made this to celebrate their anniversary (how sweet is that!!!), it took the 5 chefs 3 days to make!

Last but NOT least the chandeliers are freaking ridiculously glamourous!!! The Shangri-La really does pride themselves on grand entrances and over the top (in a good way!) chandeliers hanging from the roof. This is one of my favourite things about the Shangri-La properties, I love walking around looking at all of the beautiful chandeliers.

Shangri-La Guangzhou
1 Hui Zhan Dong Road, Hai Zhu District,
Guangzhou, 510308, China
T:(86 20) 8917 8888
F:(86 20) 8917 8899
http://www.shangri-la.com/guangzhou/shangrila/

Disclaimer: Thank you to the Shangri-La Guangzhou who kindly provided us with a media rate for our stay . All opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

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