The Holiday Inn hotel is in the Guangzhou airport zone. If you need a layover, I am giving this Holiday Inn my best recommendation. I like everything about this hotel: the clean room, comfortable bed. You name it, it’s all good.
But I really want to focus on the customer service. I arrived at the hotel at around 02:00 on Saturday morning, August 25, 2018. I was exhausted from a long flight that started in Chicago at 3:00 PM on Wednesday morning, took a long leg to Beijing, transferred to another plane to go to Guangzhou. From Guangzhou, I needed to travel to my final destination, Nanning.
This is probably more than you need to know. The point is that when I arrived at the Holiday Inn I was exhausted. Jeff was behind the counter. He quickly corrected a mistake in my reservation and easily checked me into my room. I awoke early so that I could change a train reservation. Jeff was still at the desk and with the help of Kathy, I decided to fly there instead. This is when Steven stepped in. Very quickly, the three teamed up and everything was arranged for me.
I went to the breakfast buffet, which is huge. They served all kinds of Chinese and western dishes. Everything I chose was fresh and well-prepared. This detail though is important. I picked up a cup of coffee in the buffet and brought it to my table. One of the directors noticed that I had chosen the coffee best suited to Chinese taste. It was as thin as tea. In a blink the thin coffee was replaced with a freshly brewed coffee that was easily as good as Starbucks, probably better.
Travel in China can be daunting for a foreigner. The staff of the Holiday Inn took good care of me and I appreciate this. I truly felt welcome here.
CEO Keith Barr: If you are reading this, please take note. The customer service in this hotel is exceptional, everything else too, but the customer service was as good as it gets.