Crowne Plaza City Center Ningbo by IHG

The entrance and restaurant are good, but the rooms and corridors badly need a deep renovation. The place is very old and poorly maintained. I can’t believe it’s part of the Crowne Plaza brand.

I’d happily come back. The hotel is centrally located, the staff were kind and helpful, and they communicated well in English. The conference facilities were great too. Breakfast had a big selection: a Vietnamese hot food station, eggs cooked to order, and plenty of other hot and cold dishes and pastries. I also had prawn cerviche through room service for dinner. It looked stunning and tasted extremely good, really top class.

The location was decent, but I’ll stay somewhere else next time. My suite at Crowne Plaza City Center Ningbo was easily the most outdated Crowne Plaza I’ve been to. It felt dim and a bit eerie, more like a local Chinese property. The room was old, amenities were sparse, and the “welcome fruit” from the front desk even included a cucumber. For anyone trying to figure out the lounge setup from the website: afternoon tea is in the lobby lounge from 15:30-17:30, with basic snacks. The club lounge only opens for cocktail hours, 17:30-19:30, and serves mostly Chinese food and bread, with few Western choices. Breakfast is mainly Chinese as well.

The whole place reeks of smoke, and the AC doesn’t work. I travel around China for weeks at a time twice a year, and this is the worst IHG I’ve encountered anywhere. I’m leaving, asking for my money back, and won’t return. I booked a suite but was given a children’s room with bunk beds, no fridge, and filth everywhere. I asked to move, but room #2 was disgusting too: the fridge was broken, there was urine on the floor in front of the toilet, mold on the ceiling, and stains on everything. The coffee was open and sugar had spilled. Paint slathered over everything seems to be the only update this place has ever had.