Sofitel Kunming

I was looking forward to staying at Sofitel Hotel due to my positive experience in other countries. The check in and check out experience at the front desk is generally underwhelming and manned by relatively inexperienced staff. Both times, what saved the day was the bell boys. The first was when we specifically requested for a non smoking room and was assigned one that reeked of cigarette smell. It was the bell boy who called his manager who found another room for me. The room is decent but has seen better days with malfunctioning sliding toilet door and light switch. It is a pity.

Hotel location is good and near to most places of interest. Staffs are very polite and good as they are able to meet most of our requests. Room are very clean and spacious, breakfast is very nice with good spread of foods. Will come back to stay if coming to Kunming again.

Let's start with the room and the location. Everything perfect. Nice and clean building and the rooms are really nice. I've been staying at this hotel every year since many years ago and unfortunately I've see the quality of the service getting worse and worse. This time it was the worst. Let me explain. First of all at the check-in counter the staff couldn't really speak English. Maybe I was unlucky, I don't know, but not a great start for an expensive international 5* hotel that it's not cheap. This hotel was very famous for having one if not THE best breakfast buffet in all Kunming. Now it was just a sad shadow of what it used to be. There's a small room called "cheese room" where it used to be filled with cheese and cold cuts. Now the room is empty, just filled with decorations and two lonely plates with salami. The rest of the breakfast used to have international dishes and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was a feast. The morning I stayed it was pretty much all Chinese food, and the quality was bad too. Clearly not fresh and reheated for I don't know how many times. The staff didn't even come to ask which coffee I wanted when I arrived, something that has never happened in my previous stays. The Afternoon Tea and Apero Chic snacks available at the millesime club also has gotten worse. They don't replenish the dishes after they are finished and there aren't really that many dishes. Used to be much better a few years ago. Unfortunately I've seen this trend also in the previous years but this years is the worse. I'm used to staying in cheap Chinese hostels and I can easily adjust to any kind of accomodations but if you pay for a 5* hotel then you expect 5* service. Sad because everything else is really good.

My stay was exceptional pleasant. I have to particularly commend on the service and professionalism of the front desk,by the name of 瑞文/Raven. She was prompt and helpful. Her excellent service and attitude made my experience a wonderful one. I travel on a monthly basis to different countries but only a few hotels leave an impression on me. Sofitel Kunming definitely did it with such a wonderful front desk in their team. Keep up the good job!!!