Pan Pacific Ningbo

We recently stayed in the service suites and really liked it. We could stay anywhere in Ningbo but chose it because the one bedroom apartment is much larger than typical hotel rooms with separate functioning areas, which makes it feel like a home. It has a gym with a swimming pool, wet and dry sauna, two weight rooms, and greenery surroundings. We also like the breakfast buffet with large variety of Chinese and western food, attentive and professional staff such as Chef Pan who mans the noodle station. The hotel is not very new but well maintained with wonderful staff ready to help.

i've spent about four months in total at this wonderful hotel in the new town east area of ningbo. i stayed in the 1BDR suite xx87 facing south and loved the room, the materials and layout. excellent restaurants, a great gym and the most wonderful staff throughout the hotel. i was extremely tempted to stay but ultimately decided to rent an apartment, however, i'll continue to be a member of the sportsclub as it seems to be the only one that opens at 7am and has a dry sauna. the restaurants that i particularly appreciated were the madre99 and the excellent japanese restaurant. the food quality and display is really good - while madre99 is a cafe-style open kitchen with a very friendly indian chef that makes the best curry in town, the japanese restaurant has a simply stunning interior and a very large variety of dishes. if this isn't enough, the people at the hotel are just amazing - peter, mark, leo, lynn and countless others have been so incredibly helpful to me and as of the end of last year, the hotel now has their first foreign assistant manager igor who greatly compliments the team, especially because he is fluent in english. thank you to all for making my stay so very special.

I traveled to Ningbo with my mother and younger sister and chose Pan Pacific because it's a renowned Western brand, and because it has rooms with beds which could accommodate 3 adults. I avoid staying at local Chinese hotels, because they normally allow guests to smoke everywhere and don't provide strictly non-smoking rooms. Unfortunately, although Pan Pacific is a 5-star Western brand hotel, it allows guests to smoke in the lobby and in their bedrooms. The entire lobby smelled of smoke on the last day of our stay. I managed to locate the source of smoke which came from the mini convenience store located on the first floor. I brought this up to a male receptionist, but he just shrugged his shoulders and retorted, "Do you smell smoke? But I don't!" I told him about the 3 staff smoking inside the convenience store, but he just ignored me. I experienced the same thing happening on the floor we were staying. Next to our room, 3 mainland Chinese male guests were smoking while playing poker with their door wide open. Their smoke escaped into the entire floor and into our room. Luckily, we're out the entire day. I brought this up to Cady, whose WeChat I had, and she assured me that the management would talk to the guests. Unfortunately, the next day when we checked out and walked past the same room again, the 3 guests were still smoking with their door open while playing poker. I guess it's our fault to still choose to visit 3rd tier cities, like Ningbo and Zhoushan, when we had been warned by friends and relatives that in 3rd tier cities in China, no-smoking policy is hardly enforced at all. In Zhoushan, I saw a man smoking inside a shopping mall, but no one dared to take action at all. When we went to Luoyang, another 3rd-tier city, so many diners in a large, famous restaurant, blatantly smoked. When I complained, the waitress said there's nothing they could do about it. She said that those diners were their regular customers, but I was only a tourist. She asked me to leave if I didn't like it. Lesson learned. We will never visit 3rd tier cities in China anymore. I would have given a 5-star review for Pan Pacific Ningbo had it not been for the smoking incidents. I give 1-star for cleanliness because allowing guests and staff to smoke in a hotel lobby and rooms is simply disgusting! There's nothing clean about it! It's such a waste because Pan Pacific Ningbo has such great facilities and luxurious interior; I even made a video of the hotel and will be posting it on my newly created YouTube channel: . I may return again when the Chinese government has banned smoking in hotels and taken a more serious attitude against smoking and enforced the laws against smoking in hotels and restaurants. Having brought up the bad aspects about Pan Pacific Ningbo, I would like to highly commend the following staff for their exemplary services: 1. Cady of the reception Cady was the same receptionist who checked us in during our two separate stays, on our way to Zhoushan and back from Zhoushan. She was very courteous and friendly. She smiled a lot! She offered to add me on her WeChat so that I could contact her if I needed anything. True enough, I needed to contact her within a few hours after we checked-in during our second stay. Smoke filled our room. When I found out that it came from the room next to ours, I immediately informed Cady, who immediately arranged for someone to spray air freshener in the corridor. She offered air filter, which I declined as we were already going out. As we walked down the lobby, I realized that Cady had actually left, and she was arranging all those even though she was already off duty! It was also Cady who informed me that GHA Discovery member would get dining discount by giving me the brochure. I had long forgotten about my GHA Discovery membership as I have too many hotel loyalty memberships. It can be said that it was Cady who brought business for the hotel. Initially we planned to go out for lunch and dinner. But upon learning that GHA Discovery members get dining discount, we decided to have both lunch and dinner at the hotel. Most staff wouldn't even care whether or not guests dine at the hotel, because they gain nothing out of it. But Cady does! 2. Cora (陈丽) Cora was the wait staff attending our table at Madr 99. When I found out that I had run out of mobile data plan, I asked Cora for the passcode to logon to the hotel Wifi. Strangely, there's no option to logon with hotel room number. There were only 2 ways to logon to the hotel wifi: using a passcode and mobile number. Cora kindly offered to use her mobile number to help me logon. She didn't even ask me to use my own mobile number. It was very kind of her to do that. I later found out that I could only use local China number, which I didn't have. I purchased data only SIM card. Upon paying the bill, I presented Cora with my GHA Discovery membership card. Cora provided me with 10% discount for silver member, exactly as stated in the brochure that Cady gave me. After charging the bill to my room account, we walked to 2nd floor to Hai Tien Lo to take a look at the restaurant where we planned to have dinner that evening. When heading back to the serviced suites, another male wait staff chased us and rudely told me that GHA Discovery silver member was not entitled to any dining discount at all. He demanded me to go with him to the cashier to sign a new invoice. As he was so rude, I did not want to argue with him. I later contacted Cady and asked her to verify with her manager the terms and conditions of dining discount for GHA Discovery member, before we went to Hai Tien Lo to dine in the evening. Cady, who was already at home and off duty, gladly obliged to my request, and confirmed that dining discount was applicable to even silver members. The male wait staff was extremely rude to chase us down the corridor and demanded me to walk back to the cashier with him, as if I was trying to get a free meal from him, when he was the one who did not even know the terms and conditions for GHA members. Perhaps hotel management could ask Cora to train the guy properly before allowing him to interact with guests directly! 3. Cavan Cavan was the porter/concierge who helped us deliver our luggage to our room. He, too, was friendly and polite like Cady and Cora. He even walked us to Madr 99 and showed us where all the hotel restaurants were located. The way he treated us was like VVIP. The hotel management should treasure and try to retain these 3 excellent staff. Have these 3 experienced staff train their junior colleagues before allowing these inexperienced staff to interact with guests. Have Cady train her male colleague who responded rudely by asking me whether I smelled smoke, when I told him that people were smoking in the lobby. Have Cora to train her male colleague who chased me down the corridor and demanded me to walk back to the cashier with him like a police officer catching a thief who had stolen something, when he was the one who was oblivious. It was not OK to treat a guest whom you have given discount like a thief who has stolen something from your store. Even if the guest was not entitled to the discount, you shouldn't be asking for it back, because it's you who made the mistake, not the guest! I saw Cora whispering to her male colleague worriedly, perhaps advising that he shouldn't do that, but it seemed that her male colleague refused to listen to her advice! Even though Cora managed to reverse that and put the discount back, damage had been done, and it had left a bad impression.