Atour Hotel Guangzhou Panyu Chimelong South Village Wanbo Metro Station

They say in China, the hardware is there but the software is not yet ready. Atour exemplifies this perfectly. In fact, I have a good example of their slippers representing exactly what this brand stands for. The slippers looks solid and pretty from the top and from the sides, but if you look from the bottom, you see a paper thin and flimsy sole. AND a slipper's 'base' is the most important part of a slipper because a slipper is supposed to be functional! Atour certainly executes well in raising its brand awareness and brand equity with clever and innovative marketing gimmicks in China. I give them full credit for the style but 1 out of 10 for substance. Because once you interact with their brand, you literally find an empty shell; i.e. software lacking. Service isn't good or bad. Panyu is an area without a Hyatt brand, which is my default hotel brand I stay inside China's top tier cities. They did have other international chains like Radisson and Sheraton in Panyu but I decided to support a local brand. It was with utter disappointment because the single thing I care most about is hygiene. Not 5 star hotel level hygiene but just basic hygiene. I bring my own disposable towels and tissue paper already to hotels below a 5 star, but I can't bring my own blanket and pillow. The toilet was already a foreshadow because it stinked of urine. The room interior is great, it's modern, it looks brand new. But I had one of my worst nights in China sleeping on an Atour bed. Mind you, this is not to say all Atour beds are like this, but consistency to me matters. You cannot unbreak trust once it's broken. The pillow was smelly and the blankets were smelly. This is rare for me, considering I've stayed just around100 days of hotel in China this year. Whenever my head touched the pillow, my head was itchy. Any part of my body that touched the blankets, it became itchy pretty fast. But, it's winter time and the thermostat wasn't working in the room so the room was indeed cold. I had work to do the next day so I needed my sleep and not catch a cold. I slipped into the blankets, and I was so itchy the entire time  I even dreamed of being itchy. Alas, I gave up and woke up and out of frustration I ejected the blankets from the bed. The one pillow I left on the bed was because I had the pillow cover the direct light from the desk lamp which I turned on in fear of the thought of bed bugs. The sanitized bath robe was indeed clean and I used that as my blankets but I had a really cold night in Atour. I've given Atour a chance and came away disgusted. There are countless other local brands in China which I will give a chance to and I don't see myself visiting another Atour in the foreseeable future. By the way, roommate's blankets were fine but like I said, consistency matters because I can't hope and pray for a hygienic blanket next time.

Reception staff are very courteous but a non Chinese speaker might have a communication problem with some members. The hotel could improve on their website by giving some brief information about their location. We knew it was near a metro station which was why we chose it, but it would have been helpful if they suggested which exit to use and a rough map how to get to the hotel. On the ground, there was little useful signage. We appreciated the bottles of drinking water provided, and a small fridge (which was not indicated in their room description). The bathroom was well ventilated and the air con was quiet. There was only a small teapot with 2 tiny tea cups. Fine if you like tea, but for coffee drinkers there was no mugs or normal cups even if we brought our own. Yes, paper cups were provided, but only for two of the three days. There are many eateries around and the two malls nearby have supermarkets as well as a good assortment of restaurants.

This is my new found in Guangzhou! I will just stay here next time whenever I stop by Guangzhou!