InterContinental Kunming by IHG

The heated bathroom floor was the only thing we liked. The room felt stuffy and hadn't been prepared for our arrival, and housekeeping didn't seem aware of guests' needs. Staff, including at reception, understood very little English. Breakfast was average, and the restaurant was poorly maintained, with stains in many places and salt and pepper shakers left completely empty, as though nobody checked them. This didn't feel like a five-star hotel.

The gardens are lovely, and the reception and concierge staff were friendly and working hard. But it was hard to find even one employee who spoke basic English, so I was glad my partner speaks Mandarin. Getting anywhere took us about ten minutes, with the rooms ridiculously far from the restaurants, pool, and lobby. The pool felt heavily governed and crowded with locals. Older men and women were spitting at both ends while swimming, and one man loudly gargled and spat water into a rubbish bin. It was disgusting and much too busy. A lifeguard said my baby needed a swim hat, even though he has next to no hair and his head wasn't near the water. It felt more like a governed public pool than a nice hotel pool. The hotel needs a proper outdoor resort-style pool. I've stayed in multiple IHG lounges around the world and tried the afternoon tea here. It was below average, with stale sandwiches and fishy tuna on soggy bread. There's a lot of room for improvement.

The main drawback is getting into the city or finding food elsewhere, and there can be communication issues if you don't speak Mandarin. The hotel itself is nicely maintained, with large rooms that meet the Intercontinental standard. Service was impeccable, breakfast had a good spread, and I enjoyed my recent two-night stay in Kunming.

The garden-facing rooms are lovely, and we saw many varieties of birds enjoying the space. The area around the hotel has a nice resort feel. Inside, the modern room had a very nice shower, comfortable bed, and a deck with a Bali-style outdoor couch. Breakfast was much better than I expected. We booked one night using a free IHG night as a rest stop between destinations, and the room upgrade to the club lounge was appreciated, but nobody told us about access at check-in. The bellhop pointed out that floor while taking our bags up, so we thought we might be allowed in. When we asked downstairs, staff said we needed 40 nights to qualify and swiped our card to show we didn't. We spent quite a bit on drinks and room service that we could have used the lounge for, and only noticed the room included access when I tried checking out in the app. Check-in took about 25 minutes, and checkout dragged on so long our airport driver was about to leave us. The manager at check-in was very good, but otherwise I think the issue was that staff didn't speak English.