KUNSHAN NEWPORT HOTEL

I am staying at the hotel 12 days due to teaching duties in Kunshan. I have to depart at 6.45 so I can’t really comment on breakfast. However the staff try to help me get some toast and coffee before my ride arrives. I have been to the evening buffet twice. Pretty good value. 88 RMB for a huge choice of food. Try the lamb, steak and sushi. German beer and Chinese wine are included in the price. The hotel is a little dated but everything works and the room is spotless. I have complimentary fruit delivered every day. The staff are terrific and I do not expect all staff at the hotel to be fluent in English as I am visiting their country. I do make some use of my google translator app which works offline.

I have been staying at the Pullman for many years as I travel to Kunshan regularly. I have always enjoyed my stay there. However, I have just returned from what will be my last stay. In the past the rooms were air-conditioned no matter when I stayed there. This time there was no air-conditioning and the room was hot. During my stay the temperatures were in the upper 70’s (26 C). The room was that hot or hotter. I went down to talk to the management. I learned that they have adopted an arbitrary date (in May) to activate the AC. Then come the end of September, the AC is turned off again. There is no consideration for how hot it actually is outside. I told them that it was too hot in the room to sleep and was told to “open the window”. The room was hot during my whole stay. Another downward trend in service was the restaurant. The lobby restaurant has always been a “Western Restaurant” with many menu items. The restaurant is now a Chinese restaurant with the menu on a single page that you mark with a supplied pencil for your choices. Breakfast has also been downgraded with fewer choices and lower quality food. The staff appears to be unsupervised and they just wander around looking busy while the juice dispensers run out, etc. One morning I arrived at my table to find that they had not been set up with sugar, salt & pepper, etc. The Crowne Plaza has recently opened just a few blocks away – I’ll be staying there from now on!

It is a quiet hotel located just a few Kms away from the downtown. It is modern in design and many staff members can understand and speak English. It is part of Pullman International chain. The rooms are good and well equipped and all the facilites are provided at a very reasonable room rate. Buffet Breakfast is elaborate but with very limited options for Vegetarians.