Image from the official site

Ritz-Carlton Tianjin Overview

The Ritz-Carlton Tianjin has 277 guestrooms and suites and is located in the heart of Tianjin’s political and cultural center and downtown business district. It’s easy to get around, and it’s about a 30-minute drive from Tianjin International Airport. Historical landmarks and cultural sites are all nearby. The hotel is next to the scenic Haihe River, and you can see many 19th- and 20th-century European-style buildings around it, reflecting this city’s long-standing strategic importance.

The hotel is near Xiaobaolou in Heping District, right by several European-style bank buildings. At first glance, it feels very premium, but after seeing a lot of places like this, it doesn’t feel that special; there are still plenty of local snack and stir-fry spots, so it feels grounded. There are several one-way streets nearby, so be careful if you’re driving in. If you take the metro, you can get off at Xiaobaolou and walk about 10 minutes. Even though it’s in Tianjin’s core area, this area is still fairly quiet. The hotel is not too far from Hisense Center, Henglong Plaza, and Tianhe City, and it is also reasonable to get there by taxi or a short walk.

In terms of price, this is a relatively affordable Ritz-Carlton, but that’s mostly because domestic hotel facilities are already very good and competition is intense. Regular rooms are around 1,200, and suites around 1,600, but with the default 20% service charge, it adds up to about 1,500/2,000. Compared with similarly positioned hotels in North America, this is still a good rate. This property is Cat 4. You need 25,000 Marriott points to stay (at 0.8c, that’s about $200). If you have an older Marriott Cat 4 Free Night, it’s also worth using here. In North America, a Cat 4 often only gets you a plain-brand hotel, while in China it can get you the well-known Ritz-Carlton, which is still very worthwhile. Also, this hotel is very friendly to FHR bookings: an FHR stay can include breakfast for two + $100 food credit + a basic suite-upgrade guarantee (with lounge benefits), and the booking rate is usually close to the official rate. So if you’re paying cash, I strongly recommend going through FHR (it’s available for AMEX Platinum cardholders). When you add it all up, the perks can easily cover the room cost. This lounge serves five meals a day; if purchased separately, lounge access works out to about $200+ per person. Breakfast appears to be over $200 as well.

The hotel is still pretty busy most of the time, with mostly business travelers and expats staying there, so room types are tight. So Bonvoy Gold or Platinum members usually aren’t that useful (and Ritz-Carlton itself doesn’t offer standard Marriott member benefits anyway). In practice, upgrades and perks are mostly based on spend and negotiation. High-tier members, of course, have a big advantage in requests.

Hotel booking

Booking experience

My booking experience was quite bumpy. At first, this property did not have any award rooms open, and my 2 FN were due to expire at the end of February. So I switched to booking two rooms at St. Regis Tianjin and selected river view. I also emailed the front desk to request an upgrade; they replied that they would leave a note and check at check-in whether a suite was available. It seemed like a standard reply.

After checking Flyertea reviews (for domestic hotels, Flyertea guides can actually be pretty reliable), I quickly started hunting for Ritz-Carlton Tianjin award rooms. When traveling with family, you want to ensure quality (at least don’t waste my FN).

I searched for a few days, and the hotel had no point-based availability for several consecutive months, so there was no way to use a Free Night voucher. I assumed this might be because Marriott’s 2019 property category updates hadn’t been announced yet and this hotel had just submitted a request to move up to Cat 5. Later, when the 2019 category changes were published, this hotel did not upgrade (haha), and then point bookings opened up. From a rough check, it looked like about 3 award rooms were released per day. For points-only bookings, only the deluxe city-view room seemed to be available.

If you were lucky enough to get a one-category upgrade, you could get a garden-view room. If it happened to be on the third floor, there would be a small balcony with a small round table and two chairs. In winter, that extra space is basically unusable.

Negotiation

I checked the two reservation accounts: both had Gold status from card offers, plus Marriott Gold from a previous SPG Gold match. And because this is a Ritz-Carlton reservation, Marriott member benefits are not guaranteed in principle. Since we were traveling with kids, I figured a suite upgrade would be nice, so I chose one account and wrote a negotiation email (calling always feels a little awkward). I had never written this kind of email before; I usually just asked at check-in if an upgrade might be possible. Before, the front desk said the hotel was full and there was no upgrade available, so I gave up. This time, however, I thought better safe than sorry and sent it anyway.

I was in such a hurry that when I copied the hotel name, the font ended up inconsistent. Very awkward. I even mentioned that my AMEX Aspire card had already gotten me Diamond status, just to increase my odds. The email was sent to the website contact us address: [email protected]. Some hotels send a welcome email from their front desk email a few days before arrival, and replying to that mailbox can be more efficient. It took a day to get a reply after sending this one.

When I checked the Marriott app, the room type had already changed. The hotel is still quite generous. A rough read of the reasons for the upgrade seems to be: wedding anniversary > traveling with kids > Marriott Gold > Hilton Diamond. Another possible reason is simply that I wrote the request in English... If you stay in China, you can try this too.

Then I looked at the email again and it literally said smoking room. They had booked a smoking room for a family trip with children—no way. I replied right away that it didn’t work. I later checked online and it looks like this room type may only be available as smoking room. I emailed again and waited a few more hours. But generally, if a hotel cannot meet your request due to constraints on their end, they often continue with an upgrade. And sure enough, Ritz-Carlton Tianjin called. The front desk lady said she had already checked with her supervisor: the hotel is quite full, and only one suite is left. Also, on the day we arrive, the rooms are all check-outs; with a 4 p.m. checkout, after cleaning it may only be available at around 5 p.m. Sticking to the principle of enjoying a suite if possible, I accepted right away.

All in all, this round of requesting was fairly successful. I got the upgrade sorted before arrival, and it was effectively a two-level bump. Then I checked the app, and the room type had actually switched back to the original city-view room. I figured the suite was still secured, but the perks were probably gone. I then eagerly sent another request email from the other account, this time mentioning that this was my first stay at this hotel and that I had Gold plus Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant status. The email vanished into the sea—no reply at all.

Parking

I did some research online first. If you stay at the hotel, you’ll get a free parking voucher at check-out. If not, it’s 10 RMB per hour, 240 RMB per day (compared with The St. Regis in Tianjin, where it’s only 4 RMB per hour...). After wandering around Heng Lung Plaza, grabbing a meal, and then driving over, we arrived at the Ritz-Carlton’s parking area. Note: when navigating there, don’t route straight to the parking lot—the location is wrong. The guard’s stern face got on our case and told us to move quickly. In fact, the Ritz-Carlton parking area was right across the street.

I thought we’d be able to just drive in comfortably, but the Ritz-Carlton security was just as forceful. They immediately said the underground garage was full and told us to take a detour to another lot. After asking, it turned out to be another property’s lot, and there was a fee. We refused right away—how is that okay? We kept repeating that we were checking in tonight, and the guard said he’d check with his supervisor. Then he turned and asked another guard nearby. After making a show of it over the walkie-talkie, he finally let us in. The underground garage really did look quite full, but there were many spots marked reserved. Once they heard we were staying tonight, the guard removed a reserved placard and let us park.

From the garage you can take the elevator directly to the lobby, which is pretty convenient.

Hotel Lobby

As soon as you enter the front doors, there are long staircases on both sides that lead to a second-floor meeting room. If it were a wedding, the bride coming down from above would be stunning.

At the lobby entrance, several staff members greeted us with smiles and guided us to the front desk. The number of guests did not look very high, and the staff-to-guest ratio seemed about 1:1. Most of the check-ins looked like business travelers, and there was someone calling the manager because they couldn’t secure a suite.

Because it was during the New Year period, there were some decorations.

You can wait here and rest while waiting for check-in and check-out.

The lobby lounge offers afternoon tea, and there is a service bar at the lounge.

Stay Experience

Corridor

There’s a lounge area right opposite the elevator; you can make phone calls, though I didn’t know how to get through to the front desk.

The corridor had suite after suite, and my eyes got a little tired. The floor pattern also made it hard on the eyes.

Room Types

We stayed in two room types this time: a standard city view deluxe room and a standard executive suite. Let’s do the executive suite first. I’ll give a rough layout so you can get a clear idea. Compared with hotels in New York and California, the room size here is really large. There is a small balcony you can step out to, though there’s not really space outside to sit—just for looking.

From the door, the bedroom door is directly in front. The washroom is on the left, the dressing room on the right, and the home-office/living room door is around the corner.

Bathroom

The bathroom was still very luxurious, and the overall space was huge. The toiletries are from Asprey. They also prepared a toothbrush, toothpaste, a full bath set, and even a little yellow duck for kids, plus children’s bathrobes and slippers.

The toilet was excellent: the lid auto-opens when opened, the toilet seat heats automatically, and there are several flush functions. It’s a TOTO.

Walk-in Closet

The vanity at the dressing station was nice, and it would be great to set one up specifically for LD.

Study + Living Room

The study and living room are combined into one area. The only thing I was not satisfied with was that the sofa is not facing the TV.

The mini bar is decent, but the prices were about 20 times the market price. The water was 5100, significantly better than the Binglu at St. Regis. Even though it tasted a bit strange to me while drinking it.

Bedroom

Now for the bedroom: we had mentioned in advance that it was our wedding anniversary, so the hotel did a little setup. They placed 520 flower petals. (Afterward, they were also great for a petal bath.)

Because it was the 4th anniversary, they even arranged a 4 on the side table with a little card. When I left, I arranged the leftover petals—some had already dried—into "THX," though I’m not sure if they could understand.

At check-in we asked for a crib, and after confirming the child was under 1 meter, they brought it over. The quality was still pretty good.

Welcome Gift

Maybe because our arrival time was unclear, the welcome gift arrived about one hour after check-in. A staff member brought a fruit platter first, then a cake, and awkwardly wished us a happy 4th wedding anniversary.

Outside View

This is the outside view from the corridor before the room, and the architectural style looks very harmonious.

From the balcony, you can look down and see the courtyard garden.

They said many people come to this platform for wedding photo shoots.

Deluxe Room

The other city view deluxe room has one less item than the suite—no separate living room and walk-in closet—and a slightly smaller, reconfigured bathroom. The wall right at the entrance is quite distinctive.

The bed feels a bit smaller compared with the suite.

Overall, it feels more compact.

Hotel Exterior

Since we went in directly from the garage, we later shot a few outside photos. There is a small park in front of the main entrance, and in the mornings quite a few people do tai chi there. From a distance, the hotel looks a bit like a castle.

Up close, it looked pretty grand. The big red lanterns at the entrance gave it a strong New Year vibe.

Xiangyi Buffet

I had already had a bad run with this place before, but I was hoping this stay wouldn’t be another disaster. I’ll post two good photos first, then vent below.

Overall, there are lots of types of dishes, but not much of any one thing. The Western-style items include two pizzas (one with meat, one without), a seafood hotpot that looked like it was mainly shrimp and mussels, mushroom macaroni, and two on the in-house carving station: roasted chicken and roasted pork. They were served with tomato sauce, Thousand Island, or avocado sauce, but by the time you got to them they were cold—no grilled aroma at all. The chef sliced each piece at a time, only about a centimeter thick, less than half an adult hand in size. There was corn cooked in milk (I was so hungry I ate two pieces), five kinds of sliced ham and smoked meat, and four kinds of sliced cheese. The sliced cheese was so little, people had to queue, and even one slice was already too dry.

At the Chinese station, at last there was something warm: four stir-fried dishes—fried rice, fried kale, braised prawns, and some kind of chicken. You can almost admire how much thought the chef put into covering carbs, veggies, and protein in one meal.

If you’re not into stir-fries, there’s a nearby steamer cart with steamed dumplings, steamed buns, and what looked like steamed sweet potato. Right next to that is a made-to-order noodle counter, with noodles to choose from (wheat noodles or alkaline noodles), vegetables like spinach and Napa cabbage, and proteins like shrimp and meatballs. The variety of self-serve condiments at this noodle counter is one of the best in the whole restaurant—seriously, if not for this, I might have left hungry.

Desserts were abundant, but way too sweet—almost an “American sweetness” kind of sweet. I picked three pretty ones, snapped photos, and left. Ice cream had to be served by waitstaff, but the serving spoon was ridiculously small; when I was holding a bowl with only a ping-pong-ball-sized scoop, I had to laugh at the irony.

Seafood-wise, there was shrimp (again—shrimps are one of the top three most frequent ingredients here), mantis shrimp, and spiral shellfish; raw options included salmon. Also, there was a skillet station with pan-fried salmon and mushrooms, plus two soups: kimchi soup and miso soup.

The sushi station was meager too, only six or seven kinds, looking quite sorry for itself, and there wasn’t any sushi soy sauce (you may need to ask the server).

There is no self-service drink station, so you have to ask a server to bring beverages. Staff are busy, so be proactive, otherwise you might end up not having a sip by the time you finish.

In short, this Ritz-Carlton buffet lunch was the first and the last one I’ve eaten here—I’ve blacklisted it.

If you’re here just to check in for social media photos, the atmosphere and decor are fine. But if your goal is to eat, it’s best to take another route. By the way, a few of the five-star reviews on Meituan are probably fake. Otherwise those reviewers either have very strange taste buds or a serious case of bad judgment. Reading one-star reviews was oddly satisfying!

Summary

My stay at the Ritz-Carlton in Tianjin was overall excellent. The hotel facilities were strong, service was quite good, and the surrounding area was very quiet. The only downside was that dining at this location was not very convenient, and the in-hotel buffet value was extremely poor. If you have 25,000 FN from your Marriott credit card benefit, it is highly recommended to use it here.