The things you have to keep in mind about the Fortune Hotel are its location and its cost.
And speaking about location, let´s start by correcting the map of booking.com, who places this hotel on Tianhe East Road. Wrong. This hotel is in Tianhe Road, right next to Gangding Metro Station. Actually, the entrance A of the Metro is right on the building next door to the hotel, on The Plaza Mall.
The Metro Station also offers a passage below Tianhe Road (entrance A is on the hotel´s side of the Street, and exit C on the other side) right next to your hotel door, which is also convenience.
There is a 7-Eleven by next door, and also a KFC. And on The Plaza Mall you have a Mc Donalds and an Italian restaurant on its 4th floor with very cheap prices.
The trendy spot of Tianhe (Taikoo Hui mall, Central Parc, GrandView Mall, T-Mall, etc.) are just a stroll away going west on Tianhe Road, where the hotels are much more expensive.
If you are attending the Canton Fair, you take the subway at Ganding Station (right on your hotel´s door), only make 1 change of line at Kecun, and you are right at Paizhou or Xingandon. The trips takes about 30 minutes.
And as for heading to and from the Airport, you only need to to and easy change of line at Tiyu Xilu.
There is a Starbucks in the corner of the building right in front of the hotel (where exit C of the subway is)
Finally, the hotel includes breakfast on its fare.
Sounds like a great deal, right? Well, it depends…
I stood on this hotel for the first time back in 2007, when it was called Guang Wu Hotel. Stood back in 2009, when it was already the Fortune. Great Stays.
Now I came back and from the moment I faced the elevators on the ground floor up to the moment I closed the door on my room, I had gone back all the way to 2009. Nothing had changed: same carpets, same paper walls, same decoration. And yes, the place needs a little repair.
But for me it was OK. I was not planning to stay on the room long (I was attending the Canton Fair), so all I needed was a good bed to come back to at the end of the day, a comfortable desk, a good shower and silence. And I got them all. Internet was a little bit slow, but I could do my work and held conversations via whatsapp calls.
Regarding Internet, the network of the hotel (fortunehotel) did not work throughout the entire property. However, each room is equipped with its own additional network. But in order to log in to this room network, you need to send a text code to a local phone number. Since I had purchased a local line, I could work it out. If you don´t, ask the front desk to send the technician to your room. He will either try to fix the fortunehotel network, or use his phone number to grant you access. Take into consideration that phone line can only provide 2 access codes. So, if you have more devices to connect, you will have to get another phone line.
Breakast was… difficult. Coffee was so strong that it was barely drinkable, even after adding 2/3 of the cup of milk. There was fruit, toast, some pastry, eggs and Chinese food. Tea was OK. I worked it out by buying coffee at the supermarket located on the basement of The Plaza Mall (right at the exit A), and brough the coffee to the breakfast and made myself my coffee with hot water there. Take my advice. So breakfast was suitable to put something on my stomach in order to get me going.
The hotel does not have a fitness center, but on the Plaza Mall, on its 13th floor there is a gym (Total Fitness) where I negotiated a fee to go while I was in Guangzhou. There is a sauna there too (true sauna: not a gay cruising area, neither a “sauna” as in some Chinese hotels is a place to receive “other services”).
And regarding the staff of the hotel, the young people at the front desk did not speak English at all, and every communication must be done using an online translator, which not always works. During check in we could not understand what they were saying, and finally they called a senior staff that appears a few minutes later and could speak and understand little English. So do not expect much help from the front desk.
Our room was cleaned everyday. I stood on room 1003 on the 10th floor.There was a slight smell of cigarette smoke on it. But guess it was my fault because I forgot to request a non smoking room when I booked. And being myself an ex-smoker, and the smell so faint, I could handle it. But I would advise to request a non smoking room if you have a problem with that.
The room comes with complimentary little fridge, mugs and an electric kettle to fix yourself some tea or coffee (both complimentary), as well as the bottles of drinking water they replenish daily during my stay for free too.
All in all, I knew what to expect and the hotel delivered what I wanted. Better internet would be appreciated, as well as better coffee.
My other choice was the Overseas Chinese Friendship Hotel, located near Shipaiqiao Metro Station, but there were no rooms available.
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