Conrad Hangzhou Tonglu

“Stunning view / good in value”

I stayed at Conrad Tonglu for two nights in September, and the experience was great. The hotel is situated on a small mountain overlooking the river, offering stunning views from virtually every corner, whether it’s sunny or rainy. It reminded me of the breathtaking scenery I last saw in Switzerlan… more

I stayed at Conrad Tonglu for two nights in September, and the experience was great. The hotel is situated on a small mountain overlooking the river, offering stunning views from virtually every corner, whether it’s sunny or rainy. It reminded me of the breathtaking scenery I last saw in Switzerland. The reception staff, Nara and her manager, were kind and helpful. They offered me a lake-view twin suite with a spacious balcony, which was a highlight of the stay. The staff at the swimming pool and restaurant were also friendly and attentive. The hotel has a stylish indoor swimming pool with its own balcony, where you can enjoy magnificent views of the lake and surrounding mountains. If I had one suggestion, it would be to expand the tea and coffee options at breakfast. The restaurant only offered English breakfast tea and green tea, with no café mocha available, which would have been nice.

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“A Conrad that lives up to its name”

The hotel service is just excellent. Before arrival, they will call about the arrival time and special requests. During the stay, you can really feel the hospitality from the staff. Also the facilities are well maintained.

“One of the hotels you have to try in your life”

One of the hotels you have to try in your life. Everything went perfectly! Will be back for sure! Most of the staff were sharing their kindness to the guests. Conrad Tonglu makes me proud to be one of the members of Hilton Honors!

“Not quite ready”

The Conrad Tonglu is a well appointed hotel that has wonderful views but inexperienced service staff and a lack of attention to details. First of, the pros. The views of the lake are unrivaled and the slowly billowing clouds ambling across the lake and mountains are nothing short of poetic. The de… more

The Conrad Tonglu is a well appointed hotel that has wonderful views but inexperienced service staff and a lack of attention to details. First of, the pros. The views of the lake are unrivaled and the slowly billowing clouds ambling across the lake and mountains are nothing short of poetic. The design of the facilities is suitably nice, if a bit lacking in personality. The design message seems to be “very high end hotel to drive sales of the adjoining residential villas.” There are several alpaca on the grounds that are pretty friendly. The noodle master at breakfast adds a healthy dose of character as well as delicious noodles. To continue, the cons: > The staff is really quite inexperienced. To preface, I will say everyone was friendly and certainly tried very hard. However it’s readily apparent very few, if any, of the staff have actually worked at a high end resort. —- For dinner our first night, of the 3 dishes we ordered, 2 were ordered incorrectly, with 1 not arriving at all. No one smiled throughout our 3 day stay. I ate at the only hotel restaurant for 4 consecutive meals and each time they made me take out my diamond membership card to see if I qualified for a discount. Surely the staff can remember faces or there can be a system to make this process a bit less awkward? —- At the spa, the masseuses kept trying to upsell throughout a supposedly relaxing massage. After the treatment, they tried to get me to settle directly with cash rather than signing to the room. —- It was raining the entire time and the hotel provides golf carts to ferry guests. The drivers, however, will often just park a walk away from the building and wait for you to run through the rain rather than taking the umbrellas that are already in their carts and protecting you from the rain. —- The supposed room butler made himself available through his personal wechat and as a parting gift, sent us two bottled waters and a box of tissues, like we were in some provincial backwater where the toilets don’t come with paper. —- Their receipt printer wasn’t working and it took 4 staff simultaneously at the front desk chattering away to fix it. > There’s a lack of attention to details that you wouldn’t expect at a luxury resort. —- The door to our patio wouldn’t close. It was obviously installed misaligned but the hotel staff insisted that it wasn’t broken because if you just jiggle it a bit, it closed fine. At a luxury resort, I would expect that I pull the door closed, and it closes and it requires no more dexterity on my part. —- The bath amenities are from Shanghai Tang, which is a fashion/lifestyle brand and has no experience in skincare. The soaps, shampoos and conditioner are apparently manufactured in Guangzhou and just has the overall feel of a business hotel shower kit. The products are likely produced by a licensee at the lowest cost. —- The spa is even worse with a no name local brand that you would expect to see in a second tier massage shop in a second tier city. I believe the brand was called Ming or something and it was again, produced in Guangzhou. The bottles have English mispellings right on the packaging. Surely the Conrad resort can partner with an international spa provider or brand? —- The elevator call lights are super confusing, as they are naturally quite bright but when you press them, they get marginally brighter. Many times I thought I had pressed the button but in fact that was just the natural brightness of the elevator light. —- The bar is open from 2pm to 9pm. It’s a bar in a resort! Surely, I can drink at a bar past 9pm? Is this a resort for only geriatrics, because they should advertise that clearly in advance. There is absolutely nothing to do in the area so having at least the hotel bar be an option would have been welcome. All in all, a very 3 star experience trying to be a 5 star Conrad Resort. If this were a 3-4 star boutique hotel, I’d say it’s amazing. But it’s certainly not what I would expect from the Conrad. I think all of these issues can be resolved with time and experience but as of right now, I don’t think the resort is worth the price. Wait a year or two while they go through their growing pains.

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