I have been several times to the Tian Bar with friends and customers. Its a nice, small bar (cannot be compared to the Cloud 99 bars in Shanghai, for example) with a minimum consumption fee if sitting next to the windows. Or in the some of the couches.
Overall the views are worth the visit, but have a few comments just to bear in mind:

1) Is a brand new hotel and the elevators are having issues already. Given the air pressure and so on, the doors (when in the downstairs lobby) will not shut down entirely so they will need someone from the outside to try to push the doors together, if not, the doors will open several times.
2) The toilets in the lobby during new years: I understand they might have a lot of visitors but the women's toilet was awful. They had a maid there (at 3 am) but the toilet smelled like a bus station with toilet paper and other nasty things spread all around. Quite disgusting.
3) Taxi service could be improved. Its understandable until a certain point that being a new hotel they might not have that many taxis dropping people by but the lobby should be able to hail a taxi with a phone call or something.

love the modern and contemporary design of the hotel, of coz and its location up on 70-100 floor building in the IFC, amazing great view from the room and resturants...esp. love the bathtub and underheated on the floor, we enjoyed very much of the 2 nights stay!! must go to the 99th floor bar to enjoy the view across the canton tower with a drink!

I tried out 2 nights at this hotel after a tense business trip, mainly for relaxation and to “re-charge” my batteries. Four Seasons is a chain that is highly regarded by me. In fact I stayed at Four Seasons so often that I am their Byinvitation member. Surely it won’t disappoints? Read on.


Arriving

I booked a car from the Four Seasons to pick me up from the Westin and go to the hotel. It was a very short ride, perhaps not quite worth the money paid but when on holiday, I don’t like hassles or deal with reckless China taxi drivers. Upon arrival, I was escorted to the 70th floor lobby for check-in. The concierge manager introduced himself upon my arrival and helped me with the check-in process. I was upgraded to a suite which is very nice. However, upon arriving at the room, the keys don’t work. Actually a wrong set of keys and room number were assigned. This was rectified after 15 mins and I was escorted to my suite.


The Superior Suite

The suite is gorgeous, well decked out and appointed in luxurious contemporary style, with all the modern convenience and facilities. Measuring at 112m2, this suite has a huge living room, a dining area, large spacious bedroom with comfy sofas and walk-in closet next to an ensuite bathroom. Views from the 92nd floor where my suite is located is very nice, with wrapped around views expanding from the living area all the way to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the weather was very foggy during my stay so I had barely moments of glimpse at the “panoramic” views. Another problem is that no matter which room you stayed in, there are always large cylindrical slanting pillars intersecting the room, which is frankly an eye-sore, though I understand this is necessary due to the structure of the building. There are also pillars all throughout the lobby, the common areas like restaurants, bars etc.. A hotel of pillars…
The suite is as expected very comfortable. The bed is sumptuous with top quality linens and sheets. The bathroom is huge, with good water pressure, rain shower, a large bowl shape tub that can fit two and premium Bvlgari Green Tea toiletries. The air conditioner works well and there are also modern convenience like automated windows blinds etc. For suite rooms, there is also a Bose home theater system. Only glaring omission I noticed is the lack of a coffee machine though instant coffee is provided.



The Common Areas and Restaurants

I spent most of my time in the hotel and have tried nearly all the hotel’s various restaurants and facilities. Here are my assessment


Lobby Atrium Lounge

This is an all-day lounge that serves light meals, drinks and afternoon tea. On a good day, this will be a very cozy place to have a drink or snack while enjoying the view. I ordered a light wanton noddle soup but was rather disappointed with the food quality. The cappuccino coffee was great though. Atmosphere is good but gets rather crowded during the afternoon tea time. This place must be a popular hang out for locals as many of the guests appears to be non-hotel guests.

Rating : 3/5


Café Mondo

This is the Italian restaurant which also serves morning buffet breakfast. I only tried the breakfast. The food selection for breakfast is just OK, with all the usual generic choices. Food quality can be better as I find most of the selection rather generic and un-inspired. Service is OK, but not too attentive.

Rating : 3/5


Titan Bar

I went there for a beer. Like all bar/lounge, it is darkly decorated to give out a certain vibe and atmosphere. Since the bar is totally empty when I arrived, I helped myself to a seat by the window. Immediately I was told by one of the staff that seating with “view” carries a minimum cover charge of RMB800. I said if that is so I can move but she replied that since it was still early, I can take the window seat since there is nobody at the moment. Frankly, I don’t appreciate such comments. First, there is no one else in the bar and second, there is no view to enjoy either because the entire Guangzhou cityscape is covered in thick fog. If this is so, why she felt the need to lecture me about the minimum charge and then allowed me to sit there? I ordered a beer and a crab stick snack to go along. The bar remains empty for the entire 30 mins of my stay. Worse, they are playing sad music instead of funky and dancing music. The staff just sit around and chit chat with each other. After a while, I get bored with this place and quickly left.

Rating : 2/5


Catch Seafood Restaurant

This is a seafood restaurant and occupies the top 100th level of the hotel. I went there to take a look at the place and the restaurant attendant is so convincing that I eventually tried out a meal there. Ordered a lobster and foie gras dish. Food quality is excellent though the price is on the high side. Service was very attentive and perhaps the best of all the restaurants in this hotel.

Rating : 4/5


Executive Lounge

The Executive Lounge is located on the 99th floor and is a club level only lounge. The lounge is rather small but very well decorated and cozy. Among the benefits are free flow of drinks throughout the day, morning breakfast and evening cocktail, high speed internet and personalized reception and concierge service. Service is generally very good and the staff were pleasant and welcoming. Food quality is however, not as good as expected and variety is lacking. Not surprising because there is hardly any club guests patronizing the facility during my stay. Perhaps to entice hotel guest to try, the hotel include a one way free limousine transfer to the airport which works out to be a good deal for me. Without the bonus free airport transport, I doubt it will be worth the additional cost of RMB800++ a day.

Rating : 4/5 ( with the bonus free airport transfer )


Gym / Spa

I visited the gym regularly during my stay and this is one of the best hotel gym I have encountered in my travels. It’s very complete, including a full range of weight lifting equipment, treadmills and other exercise gears. The gym is spacious and also comes with a nice view. The gym attendant was very helpful and gave me some good advice and exercise tips. After the workout, I had a shower at the changing room and the shower facilities are great, with a huge overhead shower that can totally relax the body. There is also a sauna which I didn’t try. The swimming pool is still closed during my stay.

My room rate includes a Spa credit and I spent them on a head and shoulder massage even though I am not much of a Spa person myself. The massage is OK, but the masseur who is very talkative seems to be more interested in chatting then doing the massage. Regardless, it is a relaxing massage and the treatment rooms are well equipped and cosy. The atmosphere is great too with soothing and relaxing music.
Overall, service in this place is excellent.

Rating : 5/5 for Gym 4/5 for Spa


Service and Teething Problems

The Four Seasons Guangzhou is and has just opened in August. It shows through various teething problems I encountered, a first for a stay at Four Seasons.

1) The room keys were assigned wrongly. The front desk upgraded my booking but forgot to change the keys, thus involving long waiting time to swap keys and changing to the correct room.

2) The first suite room has a defective wireless internet connection. I was changed to another room which has the same problem. ( Didn’t they check the rooms before they let guests stay in? ). A third suite room did solve this problem eventually, so in the process I have to pack and move my stuff three times though helped by a friendly housekeeping staff.

3) The third suite room eventually also got problems. While wireless internet works, the sound system isn’t working. The iPod dock also isn’t working. Frontdesk sent a housekeeping staff who knows nothing about the components, then gave up after fiddling for half an hour and called the “technician” who also have no idea how to fix it and just waste time fiddling the equipment. Meantime, he was talking loudly to another person over the phone. Finally an experienced technician turns up and it was just a simple wiring problem. I complained to the Manager on duty as the whole woo-ha took almost two hours to fix. To her credit, she apologized profusely and did managed to get the experienced technician to come to my suite room to fix the problem. I just wondered why can’t they get the correct person to come from the first instant?

4) The housekeeping is not very meticulous. I found many toothpicks left by the previous occupant littering the floor of my room that were not cleaned out even on the second day. I did not complained though.

5) The Executive Lounge staff got the bill all wrong during check-out. Took them more than 20 mins to sort out the problem and I have to teach the staff how to organize the billing correctly. This is indicative of poor training.



Internet Problems – BIG ISSUE for me

The Internet connection in this hotel is very problematic. While the published speed of the so called “high speed internet” option is technically fast, so many popular websites were not accessible during my stay, including yahoo, google, youtube, facebook and even the business website Bloomberg. Even worst, accessible websites always takes a long time to appear in the browser and I have tried multiple device with the same issue. When I complained, I was told that “overseas websites are sometimes not accessible due to China internet laws”, which is totally unacceptable. It is true Internet service in China is censored and some sites are not assessable but not so many sites and I did not encounter such problems when assessing the internet from other China hotels. As a techie kind of person who always likes to be constantly “plug-in”, this is downright annoying. The hotel’s internet provider appears to have a very aggressive firewall or blocking function. For some guest, they might be able to overlook this issue but not for me. Because of this reason alone, I will not return to stay at his hotel unless they fix this problem. Two Big thumbs down for the hotel and they need to look into this immediately and urgently.


Location

The hotel is located within the Guangzhou IFC complex but this is not to be confused with the glamorous IFC locations in Shanghai or Hong Kong which are fully integrated compounds with acres of high-end shopping and restaurant selections. Instead, the IFC complex in Guangzhou is basically an office tower, with a “friendly shop” next door that has nothing appealing which you can’t find in a basic department store. Basically, the hotel is located in an “office area” which does not have much appeal. It’s rather boring and sterile.


Conclusion

The hardware of the hotel is basically good. The impressive lobby, the luxurious rooms and on a good day, the view all serves to impress. The upgrade extend to me is very generous and much appreciated. However, looking more in-depth and one can noticed the problem surfaces. The lackluster F&B, services issues and worst, the internet connection means this is not the hotel to recommend at the moment. It is a pity because this hotel has so much potential. I am inclined to give it a 4/5 if the service issues and internet connection problem weren’t so serious but I had to give it a 3/5 in view of all these problems.

the hotel is a 5 star hotel with big rooms and big comfort rooms..a big plus is a free internet during your stay..a bit pricey but you will love the room especially the king sized bed. the hotel is newly built with a great view of the city. it occupies the 70th to 100th floor and the lobby is just awesome.