Banyan Tree Lijiang

#yunnanspots The rooms are commercial with local design elements. It's a decent room with great views of the mountain. However I just came from banyan tree Shangrila and see some difference. Shangrila uses bottled water but Lijiang uses a small water filter machine. For me, in china, I don't know if the water has been boiled, how good the filter is, how long the filter hasn't been changed or how old the water has been there...other things like cotton buds are missing in the vanity bag, there aren't a lot of power outlets and the ones that are, are next to your head above your pillow, poorly designed. For similar pricing, Shangri-La is much better. On to the review on the spa experience. I have high expectations for Banyan Tree. It's name and reputation is associated with resort, spa and relaxation. The treatment room is ethnic and reflects the local culture but was a bit of a let down compared to it's world class brand. The cost of the massage was $999 rmb but was a special deal and the original price is $1380rmb. I want to share that that price is almost almost on par to top tier cities such as Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou where I can get treatments at Mandarin Oriental GZ for about 1500 and Chuan by Langham HK at similar pricing. However giving the price of Banyan Tree LiJiang spa is just a little less than these places, the treatment level did not feel at all even close to the quality I expect from the Banyan Tree name or the price that it is. While it wasn't a bad massage it certainly wasn't a good massage, I could compare it to a $300-400 or so dollar massage in a nice spa in Shenzhen. Which is sad considering this is Banyan Tree. The price while close to tier 1 city, the treatment quality was more reflective of a tier 3 city