Pearl

One of the best hotel with Shangri-La franchise in Jinan, Shandong, China. Located right beside the Betou spring garden and city square park, you may find the very center of Jinan daily life.

Great central location in the city, though getting to the park across the road is inconveniently far. The room was lovely and clean, good service and nice pool. (Latter requires a swimming cap though which isn't ideal.) The main downside was that the rooms are not as sound proof as they could've been, and the thermostat sounds like a hairdryer keeps turning on and off in the next room which made it hard to fall asleep. Windows could use a wash too.

This used to be my go-to hotel for business trips in Jinan: environment and service are definitely first-tier in the city. What leaves me both disappointed and shocked is that, starting earlier this year, the hotel no longer offers any non-smoking rooms. Shangri-La’s head office confirmed that this was a decision made by the property itself. When compared with Marriott hotels in South China, where all rooms are smoke-free, this policy feels especially unreasonable and hard to understand.