Hotel4Real!

For personal reasons, Shenyang has been one of my most frequently-visited Chinese cities over the last ten years. However, as a Marriott fan, the Marriott scene in Shenyang had always been kind of, well, disappointing, even though Shenyang was the first market to welcome the Marriott brand in mainland China in 1999. Since then, a few hotels came and went, and the city was left with no Marriott properties until a Renaissance opened its door some 30 km from the city centre. It wasn’t until 2017 when Shenyang saw another Marriott group hotel downtown (the Le Meridien Shenyang), and 2020 when this hotel, the Shenyang Marriott Hotel, revived the Marriott brand in the city.

The hotel was easy to get to, however my arrival experience was kind of discounted by the doorman who decided to take joy in watching me struggle with my suitcases instead of helping. Alas, thankfully I’m a full-grown man with all four limbs but a gesture would have been nice. The lobby was located on the 4th floor, and I loved how “grand” but meanwhile modern everything felt. Check-in was easy enough, I was able to secure a suite however it wasn’t ready as I checked in early, so I was escorted to the club lounge (more on the lounge later) for the time being. It didn’t take housekeeping long to finish up the room, and I made my way downstairs.

My overall impression of the room was great. The layout was typical for a standard one-bedroom suite, and I quite liked the minimalistic styling, albeit a bit cheap-feeling at certain places. My suite was on a high floor and the view and the amount of natural light was perfect. The bathroom setup was nice as well, though slightly smaller than some rivals.

Speaking of bathroom, I was very much surprised when I lifted the bathroom cover and discovered that the toilet was not only not cleaned, but also very nasty – in a way you’d imagine how a nasty toilet would be. Frankly, I was not and still am not exactly sure how an entire toilet got missed during cleaning AND inspection. I brought this up to the manager on-duty Michelle, and thankfully she took this very seriously as it was supposed to be, and had the room re-cleaned and re-inspected. She then followed up with a personalized gift as an apology, and we also exchanged contact info and she took care of me during my next stay as well. Very nice recovery, however because of the whole ordeal, it took me nearly three hours from the time I arrived before I finally settled in for my stay. Not ideal.

The lounge was the highlight of my stay. The lounge staff was consistently great during my two stays. The evening happy hour had a rotating selection of local and international food and bar options, though during busy peak hours the lounge team could have used some extra help with monitoring and maintaining the stock levels of some popular items. The space itself was very nicely appointed, had an open but upscale feeling, and the view was nice.

The same things can’t be said about breakfast unfortunately. Breakfast was served in the main restaurant, and food quality and service needed serious improvements. Service level was spotty at best – some team members were eager and hospitable while others weren’t very. Towards the later half of breakfast service, some buffet items were routinely running empty, and when I brought up the issues to the manager-looking gentleman on the first morning, he humbly took my comment and immediately went on to have a full blown argument with his team members about whose responsibility it was in the middle of the restaurant. I love dramas but man, not with an empty stomach on a Wednesday morning. Things did not get much better the next few mornings, although they were relatively drama-free.

Honestly, I may have ranted a little in this review but I don’t think my stays here were bad. In fact, in my opinion they were quite enjoyable (less breakfast) and the hotel’s hard product has massive potential. Whether or not the hotel is being run the right way I can’t comment on, but as a well-positioned yet relatively new entry into Shenyang’s upscale hotel market where demand may not be the strongest, the Shenyang Marriott needs to seriously up its games to properly showcase what a Marriott can do.

RealScore

Service: 8.5

Design and Room Size: 8.0

In-room Amenities: 8

Bathroom Size and Layout: 10

View from (my) Room: 8

Hotel Location: 8

Available Guest Facilities: 10

Food Quality: 7

Food and Beverage Service: 5

Executive Lounge Quality: 8

Final RealScore: 8.19

Final RealRating: AA

Hotel is built/opened: 2020

Total number of rooms: 314

Length of stay: 8 nights

Membership level at check-in: Titanium

Room type experienced: One-bedroom Suite