How did we end up on the 24th floor of the Fraser Suites in Dalian? Mostly good luck I think.
We arrived Thursday night the 11th in Dalian, were met at the airport by Iris and Bangjie, two welcome and smiling faces. They took us to the hotel, got us checked in, then sent us to our room to collapse, which we did. We mustered enough energy to go to the hotel restaurant and have a bowl of noodles and a snack, but that was about it.
Friday morning we woke up in our Studio Deluxe apartment and looked around. The apartment is about 500 square feet, which is not bad, and had a bed, half couch, dining table for two, a desk, and a small kitchen area, all in one room. Here is the floor plan, or something very close to what we had. The room was on the 11th floor, and it looks like they put all of us on 10, 11, and 12.
Perfectly fine, and this is what LION provided. But, even with all the amenities, it looked and felt like a hotel room more than an apartment. We really thought it might be tough to be comfortable here, particularly for Pam, who would spend more time in the apartment.
So, we looked at the available choices, and there are several on the web site, increasing gradually in size (and price of course). We found two different 1 bedroom apartments, looked at the possible price difference, and decided for a month it was worth it. We picked the smaller 1 bedroom, and went down to t he front desk to see what they could do.
At the front desk we met Leon Ji, the operations manager for the hotel. Leon was extremely helpful, and let us know he would have to check with Sales to let us know what was possible. Sounds exactly like what would happen in the US if a company had contracted with a hotel to house a group of people on certain terms.
Leon got back to us and told us that we could upgrade to the Premier one bedroom, without mentioning the smaller one. I suspect we could only upgrade to what was in the original contract with LION, which was fine. He then had to find us an available room, and i guess the only one was on 24!
The view, as you can see in other posts, is great. The ride home is a little long, and your ears tend to pop, but that is not a big problem.
The floor plan for the room is below, and you can see pictures here. The Room – Updated. The original room was 516 square feet, the new one is 807 square feet, so a pretty sizable increase.
The nicest thing is we now have an area for relaxing that is both larger and separate from the bedroom, and has places for both of us to sit. We were immediately glad we chose to do this, and have been ever since. Ending up on the 24th floor was a bonus!
Dalian 2019 