Originally published at: US Credit Card Strategy

As July approached, a lot of Hilton and Marriott free night certificates were about to expire. I used two 50,000-point certificates to book the W Xiamen, and instantly fell in love with the property.

About the Hotel

Those who know me know that I rarely write hotel reviews, even though I have quite a backlog. As of this post, here are the ones I’ve actually finished, in chronological order:

Still sitting in my drafts are: Waldorf Astoria Xiamen (N stays, including a proposal stay), Conrad Xiamen (N stays), Hilton Xiamen (1 stay, during wedding photo shoots), Quanzhou C&D Center Hilton (1 stay, for a wedding), plus basically every Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, and IHG property around southern Fujian.

If you’re visiting Xiamen, these are the hotels I’d particularly recommend:

  • W Xiamen (young and trendy)
  • Waldorf Astoria Xiamen (FHR + elegant)
  • Xiamen Lohkah Hotel & Spa (FHR + classic)
  • Conrad Xiamen (views + landmark property)
  • Kempinski Hotel Xiamen (former FHR hotel)
  • InterContinental Xiamen (IHG luxury)
  • Andaz Xiamen (Hyatt flagship)
  • The Westin Xiamen (good value)

Hotel Overview

Back to this W Xiamen stay review. Let me start with a quick introduction to the hotel. First, here’s the official description:

W Xiamen is located in Xiamen’s fashionable eastern commercial district, adjacent to the newly opened Powerlong One landmark shopping center. The hotel features a stylish design aesthetic infused with strong local Xiamen character, immersing guests in an atmosphere shaped by design, fashion, music, and energy.

The hotel offers more than 200 guest rooms and suites, with design elements inspired by Xiamen’s identity as a coastal city. Its signature walls use digital art to bring Xiamen’s tropical natural scenery indoors through artistic lighting effects, creating a distinctive atmosphere. The 262-square-meter Extreme WOW Suite is carefully decorated with modern artwork, creating a wonderful setting for gatherings.

The hotel’s four refreshing restaurants and bars attract both locals and travelers with inventive dining concepts and eclectic beverage offerings. The 24-hour FIT gym, AWAY Spa, and WET pool help guests relax and recharge. The hotel also features more than 3,000 square meters of meeting and event space to accommodate a wide variety of functions. At W Xiamen, guests can recharge their energy, work hard, play hard, and fully enjoy life in this “garden on the sea” city.

Additional notes from the author:

  • Address: No. 1599 Luling Road, Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian Province
  • Hotel rating:
  • Opening year: 2021. Among luxury hotels in Xiamen, it’s one of the newest. It only began accepting reservations in the second half of 2021 after opening.
  • Trip advisor rating: 4/5 (based on only 4 reviews, so not very meaningful)
  • Location: Decent overall. It’s a bit far from the main attractions, but still acceptable. It’s relatively close to Xiamen Airport and Xiamen Railway Station on the island, and it’s right next to the newly opened Powerlong One landmark shopping center.

The pink pig at the entrance to Powerlong One

Floor layout. The W Xiamen building rises to 36 floors in total. The hotel occupies levels B1-B2, 1-5, and 18-36.

  • B2: Hotel parking
  • B1: Powerlong One
  • 1F: WOOBAR, W Store
  • 2F: Great Room (ballroom), Studio (meeting room), Strategy (boardroom)
  • 3F: Min Yen
  • 5F: Nine [breakfast area]
  • 18-32: Guest room floors
  • 35F: HEAT bar, WET (pool)
  • 36F: AWAY Spa, FIT gym

Redemption Details

With July approaching, a lot of Hilton and Marriott free night certificates were nearing expiration, and there was no official word on whether they would be extended. So I had no choice but to plan a trip. A points booking at the W Xiamen normally costs only 23,000 points, so using a 50,000-point free night certificate was a slight loss in value. But points or certificates you can’t use are worth zero anyway, right? I also wasn’t short on points to begin with — I still had at least 700,000 points at the time — so I was happy just to put the certificates to use. The free night certificates came from:

Check-in

I’m usually pretty laid-back about elite status. I used to be Marriott Titanium, but since I didn’t stay even once in the past year due to the pandemic and travel inconvenience, I dropped to Platinum. In practice, there isn’t a huge difference between Marriott Platinum and Titanium benefits. The main difference is probably that Titanium members rank ahead of Platinum members for upgrades.

After making a Marriott reservation, you can contact customer service through app chat within 48 hours before check-in to ask whether an upgrade might be available. Since I was Marriott Platinum, the W front desk also called me the day before arrival to ask whether I needed anything prepared in advance.

This is the front desk. At check-in, you can also ask directly whether an upgrade might be possible. During peak season, many suites may not be vacated until 4 PM, and after housekeeping finishes cleaning, they may not be ready until after 6 PM. So if you do have a chance at an upgrade, there’s no need to rush through check-in — you can relax at the first-floor bar first and check in later.

All the W staff wore pink masks. However, the complimentary masks provided to guests were standard medical blue. Maybe the hotel figured that not every guest could pull off pink.

At check-in, you can choose either 1,000 welcome points or breakfast. If you choose the points, breakfast is not included. Since the W does not have a formal lounge, there’s no lounge breakfast option either. I can’t imagine anyone choosing the points here.

Because it was recently the start of summer vacation, many parents were traveling with children, and after the college entrance exam, many high school seniors were also coming to try out the W experience — that’s what the front desk told me, and I was pretty surprised too. As a result, suites were in short supply. I did not receive an upgrade on the first night and stayed in a base room. After check-in, I asked the front desk again whether an upgrade might be possible for the second night, and after chatting in the app I received a positive response. Also, Platinum members and above can request 4 PM late checkout after check-in.

  • First night: base room, Standard (market rate ¥1100-¥1300)
  • Second night: junior suite, Fantastic Suite (market rate ¥2800-¥3000)

This is what the Fantastic Suite looks like on the official website:

The website also shows 3 other suite types (including the WOW Suite and EWOW Suite). I only stayed in the entry-level suite this time, but hopefully I’ll get upgraded to one of those in the future.

Welcome Amenity

For a two-night consecutive stay, in theory you only get the welcome amenity once. This was the welcome gift I received on the first night in the base room: fruit, a can of beer, a bottle of red wine, and snacks. I thought it was pretty good, roughly on par with what the Waldorf Astoria Xiamen provides. I like red wine, and when I stay at hotels, the concierge usually sends me a bottle.

Room Overview

During this two-night stay, I had a base room for one night and a junior suite for the other. Both were on the 23rd floor and right next to each other, so switching rooms was very convenient. Since the suite on the second night would not be ready until quite late, the front desk actually gave me access to both rooms that day. In short, the defining features of W rooms are:

  • Bold red and pink color schemes
  • Mirrors everywhere
  • Dice all over the place

The keycard was the standard W room keycard:

Base Room: Simple and Practical

The TV welcome screen after entering the room:

The wall panel controls the lighting, so you can set it however you like:

The base room is on the smaller side, but the layout is quite decent. The mattress strikes a nice balance between firm and soft, and it was very comfortable.

There is a W-branded die in the middle of the nightstand. I asked the front desk, and if you take it, you need to pay 128 yuan. You can also just buy a new one directly.

There is a feathered table lamp next to the sofa, and the feathers can actually be removed. The surrounding area is currently undergoing demolition and redevelopment:

My only real complaint about the desk is that I did not see any office supplies here; the junior suite did have them.

Next is the bathroom area. W's design is fairly solid. The bathtub is pretty standard.

As for the shower, the main downside is that the water pressure is not quite strong enough, especially from the ceiling-mounted showerhead. The water flow felt a bit light and lacking in force.

The toiletries were comfortable to use, and the quantities were generous, unlike some hotels where you have to ask the front desk for more the next day.

The vanity comes with a Dyson hair dryer, and the toiletries are stored in the red drawer.

Toiletries

The toilet is electronic and extremely sensitive; it almost feels like it would open if a breeze hit it. The one in the suite was even more sensitive.

This is the classic “hanging ring” feature. Just note: it is only a light.

Next, take a look at the beverage area, which includes a trippy mirror.

The minibar is very well stocked, almost packed full:

Tea bags and snacks

Whatever props you might want, they have them here. The items on the left are paid items, haha.

Fantastic Suite: Excellent

It may simply be because I rarely get upgraded to a suite despite having top-tier elite status, but I was very happy with this suite upgrade. Normally, if you want a suite upgrade, you have to have a heart-to-heart with the hotel. I do not like making up reasons, so when the front desk asks about my needs, I usually just honestly say I do not have any special requests.

Because suites were in very short supply, I had to wait until 6 p.m. the next day to move in. The front desk agent was very helpful and extended my first-night standard room. Since the suite was right next door to the standard room, I could simply move over once the suite had been cleaned, which was very convenient.

First, the living room. It is fairly spacious and includes a work area, sofa, dining table, and a bathroom. As in the other room, the wall panel on the right controls the lighting.

The first thing you see when entering is the dining table, which has a very nice design:

Next is the curved sofa, where you can watch TV.

Below the living room TV is the work desk, which is fully equipped. It even has a stylish stapler lamp, and the desk chair is very comfortable.

The living room bathroom has an electronic toilet and a sink. This toilet was extremely sensitive and would open automatically even as you walked past it.

The bedroom is much larger than the base room, with mirrors and dice everywhere. There is a dice-shaped throw pillow on the bed, and the sofa is a good place to watch TV. I forgot to take a picture of the TV.

Whether in the base room or the suite, the tabletop is a dice table. Lift the cover and there are three large dice inside.

Dice tabletop

The wardrobe on the side of the bedroom continues the red design theme.

Open the curtains and the views are somewhat limited, as one side is still being demolished and redeveloped.

Powerlong City Plaza; this side is still under development.

Compared with the base room, the suite adds another sink and a round counter.

One disappointment is that the suite still has a rectangular bathtub.

Lounge

W Xiamen does not have an executive lounge. Happy hour is held at Chao Tang Yue Jing on the first floor.

  • Happy hour: daily 18:00-20:00 (drinks and light snacks provided)
  • Platinum members and above get complimentary alcoholic drinks during happy hour
  • Outside happy hour, only lemonade is complimentary; all other drinks are available for a fee
  • The highlight here is the cocktails. The snacks are also quite substantial, enough to fill you up, but there are no main dishes.

The lighting here looks like this.

There are three seating areas, shown below: the long sofa section

The red sofa section

And the small private-room section, with a W in the middle of the mirror

There is a wide selection of drinks, and you can choose from many made-to-order cocktails, so feel free to order whatever you like.

The bottled drinks section has quite a few beers, red wine, baijiu, and Western spirits.

The cocktails include both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options. I took a quick photo of one menu here, but this is far from the full selection; there were several pages in total. The staff were extremely warm and patient, so you can take your time ordering and sipping. You can also order other drinks directly by asking the staff.

The snack selection is decent, with vegetable salad and various desserts.

Here is what I picked:

As for cocktails, you can try many different ones. This time I chose the non-alcoholic cocktails. There were two, and I tried both; the one with mung bean sprouts was quite good:

There was also a custom beer, Xiabai Tea, and the combination worked pretty well.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served at Nine (五魁九里) on the 5th floor. There is a very wide variety of food and many stations, and I only picked a portion of them to show here. You need to tap your room key to enter the restaurant, and they tap based on the number of guests. For example, for 2 people, the front desk will tap the card twice.

Entrance to the breakfast restaurant

Yogurt, all served in large bowls

Fruit section, with a very generous selection

Noodle station, where you can customize satay noodles

Hot food section

Steamer section

Egg and bread section

No matter what else you eat, I recommend getting a bowl of satay noodles plus an egg white bun.

Heat Bar

This one definitely deserves a mention. It is located on the 35th floor, and the hours seem to be 8 pm to 2 am. It accepts reservations and private events. There is a small pool inside, so it looks like you could host a pool party there. The bar also accepts reservations from non-hotel guests. You can either contact the staff member directly (and add her on WeChat) or call the hotel front desk to make a reservation.

The front-desk staff member was both beautiful and enthusiastic. When I went over to ask about it, she immediately offered to take me inside for a quick tour. Very cool.

The wall along the hallway is an LED screen.

They can make all kinds of cocktails. Everything available downstairs is available here, and there are also drinks here that are not available downstairs.

There is a huge selection of alcoholic drinks.

I normally do not like going to bars, but the staff member was so enthusiastic that after the tour, I said I definitely had to come back for a couple of drinks next time, and I added her on WeChat while I was at it.

Other Facilities

The swimming pool on the 35th floor and the fitness center on the 36th floor are connected by a circular staircase. If you want to swim, you also need to go to the 36th floor to pick up a wristband (for the locker).

Gym

The Gym is open 24h, and it is fully equipped with a wide range of workout machines, occupying almost the entire 36th floor.

You can box here.

Multiple treadmills

Disposable earphones are provided.

Pool

For an indoor pool, this one is already quite large. Hours are 06:00 to 22:00. I swam a few laps and thought it was pretty good, and there were plenty of lounge areas around it. At night, influencers often come here to take photos and swim, though not many people actually swim seriously. As someone who knows three different strokes, I felt a little out of place here.

Locker Room and Sauna

There is a sauna inside the locker room, set at 70 degrees, and it feels great. Since it is in the locker room, it was not convenient to take photos. Definitely worth trying next time. The locker room is well stocked, with ice water, chilled towels, and various toiletries. The attendant uncle was sincere, warm, and especially friendly.

Summary

Highly recommended, especially for younger travelers looking for a fun experience. I imagine a lot of women would really like this kind of hotel.

  • Elite benefits: 5.0
  • Executive lounge: (if you care about food: 3.0) OR (if you care about drinks: 5.0)
  • Facilities: 5.0
  • Guest room review: 5.0
  • Overall score: 4.875