Fraser Suites Dalian

IW346 months ago

Stayed early December 2023, for seven nights. Overall, a truly excellent experience! The hotel is built atop a new, large shopping mall (Galleria), although it has its entrance on ground level. The interior décor, style and quality of furnishings are all first class. We stayed in a Studio Deluxe King room, which was modern, spacious and with the most comfortable beds I’ve yet experienced in China. |Reception will give you a card, but it’s useful to have the hotel’s name & address in Chinese: |name: 大连辉盛阁国际公寓 |address: 116001 辽宁省 大连市 中山区港龙路30号|It takes around 30 minutes by taxi from the airport.|As with all rooms, a small kitchen area was provided, with fridge, stovetop, microwave and all plates, cutlery, cloths etc. There was also a Siemens washer/dryer machine. Everything was as-new and worked perfectly. The bathroom was beautiful and spacious, with separate bathtub and rainfall shower. Toiletries provided were of very good quality. Housekeeping was efficient and non-intrusive. And the whole place was delightfully quiet.|We stayed on the 23rd floor and the views were astounding – over the city and the sea and ferry terminals.|The room had a work desk and USB connection for charging phones etc to one side, and a small sofa & table to the other side. The TV had a reasonable mix of Chinese and Western channels. It also boasted a Bose soundbar! There’s also heating/AC you can control yourself (not always the case in China).|Our rate included a good quality breakfast, which was in a fair-sized buffet with Chinese and Western dishes, and even included home-made yoghurt. It has an ‘eggs station’ where the chef will cook them to your liking. The dining space was quiet & relaxing, and doubles-up as a sushi restaurant in the evening (didn’t try). All staff there were also pleasant and helpful.|We didn’t try them – but on Floor 6 (I think) there was a delightful swimming pool, sauna, snooker room, computer terminals for client use, and a really useful library/lounge area where you can freely relax.|You can take the hotel lift to Floor 4 and enter directly into the Galleria shopping mall (Fraser Suites have their own dedicated entrance/exit there on 4th floor, controlled by your room key). The Mall has several floors of all kinds of shops, an Imax cinema and at least two food court levels (Floor 4 is one of them). Be aware that, as with most of China now, payment in restaurants (and even menu reading) is almost all done by mobile phone – using We Chat or Alipay etc. Westerners can install WeChat on their phones in advance and can even now link a payment card. However, unless you read Chinese well, the menu scanning may be difficult! In which case just ask for a physical menu, as they usually have photos and/or (sort of) English translations.|On the lowest level (I think B2) there is another food court and a good supermarket called ‘Big U’. You can get pretty much everything there, if you want to take food to your room. There is also a Lawson’s convenience store on ground level, just around corner from hotel entrance.|On the lowest level of the Mall is also direct entrance to the Metro system. The station is called ‘Conference Center’ and is on Line 2 (and NOT to be confused with the station called ‘Convention & Exhibition Center’ which is on Line 1).|You can still use cash to pay for Metro tickets and the machines all have an English language option. And it’s cheap!|Around the hotel area is the new-ish Conference Center, and a huge promenade area surrounding it, where you can walk along the waterside. I think that the new mini-Venice area is also walkable to the north a little.|Altogether, then, Fraser Suites is an excellent choice for Dalian stays – it’s very pleasant, comfortable, reliable, and well-located for easy access to all other parts of the city. Special thanks to Archer & George who helped us with our taxi to the airport when we were leaving. In short: Fraser Suites is very highly recommended!|