Banyan Tree Jiuzhaigou

“Banyan Tree Jiuzhaigou experience”

The view was amazing, it was as if I was living in a painting. The mountain range was beautiful and they even have a few animals walking on the road (not that they cause any inconvenience). The staff are wonderful and would regularly go out of their way to make sure we had the best experience poss… more

The view was amazing, it was as if I was living in a painting. The mountain range was beautiful and they even have a few animals walking on the road (not that they cause any inconvenience). The staff are wonderful and would regularly go out of their way to make sure we had the best experience possible. The rooms and facilities are also quite nice, the design was also quite traditional as a chinese person. If you booked the hotel, I would recommend booking the “Tibetan style picture taking,” as the staff are quite patient and they even offer 3 free photos. Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I would recommend visiting.

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“The Place to Get Away from It All!!!”

The service at the hotel is outstanding. Before our arrival, I called the hotel a few times and both times, the staff on the phone were very helpful and nice. I would like to give a special thanks to Charlotte Zhu. Charlotte did so many things to help me before my arrival, such as finding out ho… more

The service at the hotel is outstanding. Before our arrival, I called the hotel a few times and both times, the staff on the phone were very helpful and nice. I would like to give a special thanks to Charlotte Zhu. Charlotte did so many things to help me before my arrival, such as finding out how a foreigner could buy a ticket to the national park and arranging for my late arrival. She also put me in a room with an outstanding view. During my stay, she helped me with many more things, some of which were complicated. She has the most cheerful and positive personality! Linda, the front desk staff that checked me in was also very kind and helpful. She was efficient and fast and when I asked for ice, she went out of her way to help me get ice very late at night. Fengyi, the bellman, was kind and nice and walked us to our room. In the restaurant, the service was top-notch, both during breakfast and dinner. Luke Li, one of the managers, was very friendly and made us feel welcome. As I had never travelled to Jiuzhaigou before, I wasn’t sure of where to stay. Originally, I had booked a hotel at the entrance of the national park, but I wanted to upgrade to a nicer hotel. So I rebooked at the Banyan Tree. Please note that the Banyan Tree is at least an hour away from other hotels, and it’s about 1.5 hours drive to the entrance of the national park. From the airport, it takes around 3 hours in a taxi to arrive at the hotel. The biggest feature of this hotel is the location- remote and on top of a beautiful mountain. The view from our balcony overlooking the valley in the mornings was breathtaking. However, the drawback of the location is that there are no restaurants or convenience stores within 30-45 minutes taxi ride. This means that you will need to eat all meals in the hotel and pay the high prices, unless you are willing to go down from the mountain each evening for dinner. It is not easy to get taxis at the hotel and the taxi fare is not cheap. So I recommend that anyone staying here bring some snacks/drinks with you and also be prepared to drop big money to eat in the hotel for dinner. Overall, the hotel is very nice. Amazing views of the valley, very relaxing, and nice rooms. The service is amazing, and all of the staff that I encountered are trained well and act very warm and friendly to the guests. The location is perfect if you are looking for a retreat to get away from it all. The beds are very soft and comfortable. However, there are a few things that need improvement. This hotel isn’t cheap, and customers paying Banyan Tree rates expect a high level of housekeeping and maintenance. 1. The hallway carpets are dirty and seem like they are never vacuumed. 2. Housekeeping was hit or miss. Inconsistencies during my stay were: toilet tissue wasn’t always replaced and there wasn’t always a spare left, sometimes they would refill the essential oil diffuser and leave a new tea light candle and sometimes they wouldn’t, and somedays they would leave four bottles of water while one day they left just two bottles of water. The floors weren’t cleaned that well, and whatever they use to clean the toilet room and shower left the bathroom smelling like urine. I think they probably use a mop/towel with water only rather than using cleaning chemicals. The bathroom never smelled good after they cleaned it and each day, I had to use a disinfectant wipe to get the urine smell to go away. I hope that the management of this hotel can teach the housekeepers how to better clean the toilet and shower, teach them how to rinse out the mop, and use the proper cleaners to leave the bathroom smelling clean and fresh. Website Issues- There are a few things on the website that are inaccurate and I hope the hotel management can correct these issues so that future guests have the correct information: 1. Accommodation- The title when on the “Accommodation” page says “Choose your suite or villa”. Please note that there are only suites and rooms available in this hotel. The villas are still concrete shells and look to be in a major state of inactivity and decay. From the looks of it, no work has been done on these in 5-10 years. 2. Activities- Couples Golfing, which is feature #6 on the “Activities- Things to Do” portion of the website is not available. The golf course has been closed and there is no word as to when it will reopen. Part of the golf course is still being groomed, and part of it has grown wild, but several hotel employees confirmed that the course is completely closed. The tee boxes have no markers, and the greens have no pins. When I walked past the club house, it was decaying and it is apparent that the course is closed. The hotel will drive you around the course, and guests are also able to walk around on the course, and the scenery is breathtaking! However, please note that the course isn’t open. 3. Facilities- (a) The first paragraph mentions playing golf on the course adjoining the hotel, but again, this course is permanently closed. (b) Feature #5 Pool- The website mentions that there is an indoor and outdoor pool, but this is only partially true. The indoor pool was operational, but both times I went to the pool, it was stagnant and there was no water filtration or pump turned on. Because of this, I decided not to use the pool. It’s generally not good hygiene to allow the guests to use the pool if there is no water filtration. A general rule of thumb is that the pool pump/filters should always be turned on during pool opening hours. The outdoor pool is out of use and would need major overhauling if it were ever to be used again. See photo I have uploaded to this review. I went into the pool area at 10:30AM and the locker rooms were pitch black. It seems the locker rooms are no longer in use as well. Please note that there is no hot tub at this hotel. (c) Feature #6 Gym- The photo on the website looks like a computer rendering. The actual gym is MUCH NICER with great equipment. In summary, this hotel is great if you are looking for a mountain retreat and you don't mind travelling great distances to the town and national park. The service at this hotel is outstanding!

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