Wyndham Grand Xiamen Haicang

At the end, they brought me the dessert I was supposed to receive, which made me feel a little better. Before that, there was a lot of confusion. Since the lounge was being renovated, I'd heard its benefits were available in the first-floor cafe, so I booked. When I arrived, I was told for the third time that nothing could be done because of the renovation. They handed me a key and said I could go upstairs. I asked if they'd missed something, and they said no. Only after I showed the booking conditions did they give me a name tag and two snacks as a special gift. I went out to eat, then asked again, and it turned out they'd given me the wrong information. They said cake, fruit, and coffee could be provided, but only within three hours. I was already full, so that was frustrating. The pool was also closed for construction in 30-degree weather. There was a lot of noise from the construction above my room, and the gunshots were loud when a procession went by outside. The whole thing made for my worst luxury hotel experience.

We had to stay here for three weeks after this Wyndham became a quarantine hotel during Covid-19 restrictions. The room was okay, perhaps a little overpriced, and the sea view was nice, but the restrictions, food, and internet were the main problems. Staff inspected parcels from outside, opening them, and sometimes didn't bring them to our room for what they said were "governmental" restrictions. They showed no written documentation for those rules. The internet was very slow and unstable, and Zoom had constant delays and video and sound problems. Bring a prepaid SIM or another option if you stay. The western-style food selection was limited and overpriced. Outside food deliveries were only brought up after 7 PM, so you could only order dinner, and it was likely to arrive cold. Our room's A/C seemed old and couldn't keep things comfortable when it was over 33C outside. I understand at least two of these problems were somehow related to Covid, but a colleague at another hotel had no trouble getting outside deliveries.

My husband and I came to China for business, and the three-week quarantine made this a particularly bad stay. Our business partner booked us into Wyndham, and it turned out to be our worst experience ever, despite our being frequent and experienced travelers. Our suite was shabby and dirty, and the vanity drawers weren't clean enough for me to use. Staff often didn't speak English, so it was hard to get basic information, and the English-speaking staff ignored our questions and requests. The Wi-Fi was extremely slow, making it impossible to join meetings and do our work properly. The food was disgusting, with very limited and extremely overpriced western options. The Chinese and western breakfasts were almost no different. We tried ordering from outside, but they wouldn't let fresh food be delivered for an unknown reason. They opened our parcel and never gave us a reasonable explanation. This definitely isn't a five-star hotel, and I wouldn't recommend staying here.

A really pleasant stay, with a lovely room, great staff, and a perfect view.