Regency Hotel Shantou

“good place to stay”

located in center of town, room size and amentities are good according USA standard. Chartered bus are available to Hong Kong or High Speed Rail Station. But I found the bus is more economical and better time schdedules. Shopping is across the street with Walmart and Starbucks.

“Good location”

I spent only one night there, so I cannot review all amenities. Definitely a 5 star when was built, now I will rate it in the lower segment of 4*. It needs renovation fast, starting from carpets, bed linen to the bath accessories. Bad mattress is really hard, but surprisingly comfortable. Wifi wo… more

I spent only one night there, so I cannot review all amenities. Definitely a 5 star when was built, now I will rate it in the lower segment of 4*. It needs renovation fast, starting from carpets, bed linen to the bath accessories. Bad mattress is really hard, but surprisingly comfortable. Wifi works decent - no VPN preinstalled - so only china allowed apps. Breakfast is Chinese, however anyone can find something to eat. Coffee not so good. At -1 floor a good Chinese restaurant. At 5th floor an interesting KTV which you could enjoy.

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“I was a long-term guest when it opened back in 1999... recently returned.”

The rooms are of a high standard, but have not been redecorated since the place opened in '99 - they are exactly the same, hence the complaints of some reviewers here. But it is not poor condition like others are saying. What is of concern, is a lack of English staff on hand when you need them. Th… more

The rooms are of a high standard, but have not been redecorated since the place opened in '99 - they are exactly the same, hence the complaints of some reviewers here. But it is not poor condition like others are saying. What is of concern, is a lack of English staff on hand when you need them. There are a couple, but for a place with 500 rooms, two is too little by far. The food here was a complete joke. The steak was so bad, the most painful part was that I had to pay for it. How can you get a steak wrong? Want a beer with your meal? Oh you will wait for that. You will likely have your sub-standard food long before you taste that beer. The restaurant is typical of the mainland, one person on his phone talking to someone on the moon I expect, given the volume of conversation, another emptying the contents of both nostrils into the cloth, whilst another next to me needed a trough, rather than a plate to eat from. Guess I can't blame the hotel for this though. But what I can blame them for, is internet performance that is SO bad, that I wasn't able to effectively work during my stay. I did some digging and found they have a mere 100Mb/s link, for a 500 room hotel. What penny-pincher came up with that decision I wonder... Another downside I noticed, was that the wonderful 'Rocky Lounge' in the basement, which had live music, dancers, great bar etc, is now a parking lot. What. A. Shame. I guess they had no choice as the area around the hotel, which was once sparse when the place was built, is now metropolis. Indeed, the area is almost unrecognizable after so much time... So Regency - improve the quality of the food, and the internet, and I'll be back.

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“Good enough, beware EDISON at checkin!!”

This was my second stay at Regency, I will try the Sheraton next time. Room was clean and well appointed, however service was not acceptable. While checking in, the front desk staff tried to pre-authorize my credit card (standard) and FOR SOME REASON, tried to enter my card PIN themselves three sep… more

This was my second stay at Regency, I will try the Sheraton next time. Room was clean and well appointed, however service was not acceptable. While checking in, the front desk staff tried to pre-authorize my credit card (standard) and FOR SOME REASON, tried to enter my card PIN themselves three separate times. This locked my card rendering it useless for the rest of the trip. I needed my Mandarin speaking host to explain this error to them, so do not have high expectations for English communications. The breakfast buffet is in the open air lobby with decades old banquet chairs and average quality food.

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