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About The Ritz-Carlton, Guangzhou

The Ritz-Carlton, Guangzhou is located in the heart of Zhujiang New Town, Guangzhou's central business district, close to the Pearl River and next to Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou Library, and the trendy new landmark K11 Art Mall. It faces the new Canton Fair complex and Canton Tower across the river. It is about 45 kilometers, or a 30-minute drive, from Baiyun International Airport.

The hotel has 350 rooms and 91 luxury residences. The most basic room types start at 50 square meters, and every room comes with thoughtful touches such as an entry foyer and a walk-in closet. Wood paneling paired with a soft, delicate cashmere carpet makes the home away from home feel especially warm. The new "Deluxe Room" showcases a wonderful blend of contemporary classic design and the Ritz-Carlton gold standard. Personalized privacy, comfort, and exclusivity are synonymous with the Ritz-Carlton Club Level.

My personal impression is that this is a very convenient place to eat. The underground commercial street at Huacheng Square nearby has all kinds of snacks, tea restaurants, and local specialties. A short walk away, you can also find better-known spots like Tao Tao Ju, Bing Sheng Pin Wei, Chang Lai Xiao Ju, and Haimen Yuzi. In terms of transportation, Zhujiang New Town Station and Liede Station are both a bit far, and it takes more than 10 minutes to walk there. The APM's Grand Theatre Station is a little closer, but it only gets you to limited destinations. For sightseeing, Huacheng Square Park is very pleasant, and there is also the music fountain. You can admire Canton Tower, and the night view is also excellent.

Booking, asking nicely, and the actual stay

This time we came to Guangzhou for a trip and needed to book two rooms. One was planned to be booked with FHR, and the other with points. Considering the fifth-night-free benefit on points bookings, staying four nights seemed just right.

It is worth noting that Marriott Platinum members do not get lounge access or free breakfast at The Ritz-Carlton. The only way to get those benefits is to pay extra for club privileges or ask for them. This time I booked with two accounts, one Marriott Platinum and one Gold. To make the request easier, I used the Marriott Platinum account's points booking, and used FHR for the Marriott Gold account, since that booking already included breakfast.

Points booking

The cash rate on the hotel's website before tax was RMB 2,200+, and points bookings were around 48,000 to 50,000 points. With the fifth-night-free benefit, that is still a pretty good deal. I checked, and it seems there are four room types. Everyone should try to choose one of the lower options, the Premier City View Room, which seems about half a tier above the standard room. If an upgrade is available, even better.

Since the other room was booked with FHR and already included breakfast, the main goal for the points room was just to get breakfast. To improve the odds, one of the guests happened to have a birthday a few days later, so I simply said we were celebrating a birthday. I also mentioned Platinum status in the request. I had ChatGPT write the whole message directly, and then I just replied to the welcome email from the hotel. You can refer to it in the same way you would write a complaint letter:

The hotel replied a few hours later:

Thank you very much for your reply!

As for the breakfast you mentioned and the need to upgrade the room type, I have made a note for you. If the room status allows that day, we will try our best to arrange it for you.Seeing that you are our valued platinum Card member, we will prepare welcome fruits for you. We also know that your stay is to celebrate your birthday.

Thank you very much for choosing to stay in our hotel on such an important day. I hope you like it. We are also looking forward to your arrival!Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!


It did not directly promise breakfast and an upgrade, but as long as a note is made, there is still a pretty good chance you will get them at check-in.

In the end, when we actually checked in, the front desk upgraded us one category, from a city view room to a Canton Tower (the Little Waist) view room, and also gave us breakfast for two. That was pretty nice.

FHR booking

My other room was booked with FHR for five nights. The main reason was that I still had three Platinum FHR reimbursements left over from 2023, so I planned to book three nights in 2024, and then after the January 2024 refresh, book two more nights. That would make exactly five nights. However, note that these five nights were booked separately, so it is best to contact the hotel in advance and ask them to combine the reservations, meaning all five nights should be in the same room. The Ritz-Carlton, Guangzhou was about $270 and change, which is still fairly suitable for reimbursement. The benefits that come with FHR are very generous. They guarantee a room upgrade by one category, breakfast for two every day, 4 p.m. late checkout, and a $100 dining credit (usable at the hotel’s own restaurants).

FHR already comes with quite a few benefits, so asking nicely does not seem especially necessary, but I still used ChatGPT to send an email saying I had booked with FHR and hoped for a suite upgrade. The hotel also politely replied that they had made a note:

Thank you very much for your reply! I have noted your demand for the row house for you; If the room availability allows, we will try our best to arrange for you to renew the original room and upgrade the room type. I will also prepare the welcome fruit for you and look forward to your arrival!Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

But honestly, I was just sending it casually. If it worked, great; if not, it did not really matter.

At check-in, the room was upgraded one category as well, to an Opera House view room on the executive floor. The front desk specifically reminded us that it was only a floor upgrade and still did not include executive benefits, so no lounge access. Also, because the five-night FHR stay was combined, the $100 dining credit could only be used once, and the front desk was very familiar with that. The credit can be used for room service, the hotel's restaurants, the lobby bar on the first floor, and more, so it is still pretty easy to use up. The credit amount was RMB 700, and it would be settled at checkout.

In the end, these FHR stays also earned Marriott points and extra bonus points.

Lobby

Since the Lunar New Year was approaching, the lobby had some festive decorations, which made it feel very cheerful.

However, this sugar art costs money, RMB 18 each! Fortunately, the extra ones are placed at the buffet breakfast area and given to children.

The other decorations were quite elegant.

This one has water flowing down from the ceiling, which is pretty interesting.

The hotel entrance was festive too.

Stay experience

The two booked rooms were a Canton Tower-facing room and an Opera House-facing city view room. The interiors were basically the same, so I will not describe them separately.

The room overall was fairly elegant. Since we mentioned the birthday in advance, the room was lightly decorated and balloons were placed inside.

I personally really like rooms with a predominantly white color scheme.

The bathroom is quite spacious, with double vanities, a bathtub, a shower, and a smart toilet.

Outdoor view during the day

At night, they delivered a cake, welcome fruit, and macarons. These macarons cost RMB 24 each downstairs!

The night view is quite beautiful.

Breakfast

It could be said that this was the best breakfast I’ve had in the past few years! Not only was there a huge variety, but there were also many made-to-order dishes, and the staff were proactive and enthusiastic.

  • Freshly cooked congee with optional toppings such as shrimp, fish slices, pork liver, beef, pork, lettuce, mushrooms, and more for you to mix and match. There were also ready-made preserved egg and lean pork congee, pork offal congee, chicken congee, and more
  • Freshly made egg pancakes
  • Freshly cooked noodles, rice noodles, wontons, and more
  • The bread quality is exceptionally good
  • The fruit selection was fairly standard, but at least it was cut and peeled

Ice cream was already available at breakfast, and it was excellent quality, so I suspect it’s the same one used for lunch and afternoon tea buffet.

However, there were quite a lot of guests on weekends, and queues started forming at 9 o’clock.

Pool

The pool here is outdoors, on the 4th floor of the hotel, sandwiched between two high-rise buildings. The pool is temperature-controlled, so swimming in it is fine. It happened to be very cold during the days we went, and getting out of the water was freezing. In the following few days, the temperature rose back to 20 degrees, and the outdoor pool was actually quite comfortable.

Conclusion

Overall, the Ritz-Carlton Guangzhou was a pretty good experience, and the location is great for anyone who wants to explore the area nearby. The biggest surprise was definitely breakfast, with its wide variety, lots of made-to-order items, and very attentive service. However, the 35,000-point room award was a little short on points, so I had to top it up a bit. An FHR stay was still pretty good, with prices all a little over $200.