Hotel Romantik di Suzhou

Arrived past 2pm the rooms were not ready. So we went for lunch at the hotel noddle place. After lunch, past 3 pm only one room was ready. The room I had was suppose to be non smoking but someone smoked in the room and it lingered in the bed; pillow etc. we couldn’t change it as hotel was fully booked. So I had to suck it up. Maybe the hotel should impose a cleaning and deodorizer fee as a penalty or as a deterrent for people who smoke in a non-smoking rooms. The room heating didn’t keep the room warm. The explanation was the insulation is poor and they gave me a portable heater. The other room had carpet ( mine has floor cold floorboards) and there were no cigarette stench and it was warm. So my advise is to get a room with carpet. Breakfast room was lovely, the breakfast was okay, however you won’t get any staff attention. The saving grace was the Panmen Garden which you should visit both day and night. It was great because it’s not busy as everyone else goes to the Humble administrator garden. So there are ample photo opportunities without swarms of tourist. However the promised Panmen scenic area tour with the hotel is no longer available. The hotel should not list it as an experience you can have when you book and room. Overall it’s a beautiful hotel with unique character due to it history and many dignitaries stay here. Being attached to Panmen garden was a plus. You will need to take a DiDi for Suzhou other attractions. Free Hanfu experience was good as my daughter got to utilized it. We also dined at the 4th floor Italian restaurant which serves very good Italian food. Hotel staff are helpful. Wi-Fi is non existent due to full capacity of the hotel and the bandwidth is just insufficient to support the load and it also depends where your room is situated.