This is no doubt an amazing hotel and the best luxury in Shenzhen. Both room and bathroom are massive. The interior decor, especially the bath is impressive. A beached pool and the hotel offers some of the best food in town (expensive). I liked the spanish theme and gave the hotel a character You feel special staying at this hotel. However, there were a few short comings with the hotel.

I am an ambassador member which boasts a guarantee upgrade, free newspaper, fruit and water in room at time a arrival. On my arrival, my only upgrade was a pool view room without club access, did not get newspaper nor did I get my free fruit and water as promised. Being a paid ambassador member, I feel a little shortchanged.

I also feel most of the staff at the hotel were young amateurs with little 5 star hotel experience. Intercontinental being a luxury global brand, I have high expectations. It started with my room service order of a Paella- a hotel specialty being a spanish themed hotel. I asked for a Paella (I even pronounced it in an english way so she would understand)- the girl at the other end of the phone had no idea and wanted to know if it was western or chinese food. Being a spanish themed hotel, I thought they might know their own menu a little better. She then asked me to spell it for her and immediately asked the chef behind her what it was (I speak a little chinese) - she then asked if it was fry rice- I said yes. Nonetheless my paella arrived in perfect shape and tasted good, but the tray handle was all dirty (food marks on the side) when it arrived.

As mentioned in a previous most, the hotel is surround by a theme park which will be noisy during the day but crisp quite at night. If you are looking for a quite relaxing time by the pool, you are guaranteed to be disturbed by noise from the theme park. All pool facing rooms will get noise from the theme park.

Management also needs to replace the rattan seat on the balcony. During my stay, no rain was recorded. However, when I sat on the rattan chair I got a wet bum. I took a closer look and it looks water is retained under the seat due to the way the chair is designed. My bum was so wet and it was through my undies.

Despite a few shortcomings, I still highly rate this hotel and would recommend it to others. Special credit to the Rachel Liu (Guest Relations Officer) who made my stay feel special.