Wanda Vista Zhengzhou

I go to Zhengzhou with a colleague for two weeks every year for work. Work usually puts us in the usual, nice, Western 'chain' hotels like Hilton, Marriot and so on, which are ok. This time I pressed for a Chinese chain in a different area closer to where we worked each day and we got the Wanda Plaza. I should point out that I lived in China and Taiwan for nearly 6 years in the 80's and still speak pretty good Chinese- this makes a difference. After the hotel had been booked I tried to contact them by email to arrange a car for the airport pick up. The email I took from the website never seemed to get through so I called the phone number. My Chinese was rusty at first so I used English and they were very friendly and helpful. I did use Chinese towards the end much to the gratitude of the man I spoke to. We were met at the airport by a very polite and friendly driver with a nice car and whisked away to the hotel very efficiently. The hotel's location is a plus. It is located near a lot of interesting bars, shops and eateries of all description. We found some fantastic places to eat around the hotel and some interesting walks to take in the sights. The staff are very friendly and welcoming and helpful. My non-Chinese speaking colleague had no problems making himself understood. The staff who got to know I could speak Chinese were happy communicate in Chinese but I think most could manage in English. Chinese can be very modest and they all claimed they had terrible English but most visitors would be fine. The rooms were very, very comfortable and well appointed. Great bathroom and hot shower, comfortable bed and separate lounge area with a well lit desk which I needed fro work. The breakfasts were very good for me- I love the Chinese options and fresh fruit so I was happy. My colleague preferred a more traditional breakfast with beans, bacon and so on and they did not disappoint. There is a restaurant (Zhou, I think?) on the 5th floor we ate in a couple of times and really enjoyed the quality and variety. Expensive compared to outside but very tasty. We also had the buffet a few times which offered an incredible variety of food including fresh sashimi and an area where you could choose your meat/fish and have it cooked. We did eat out a lot as there were whole streets of places to choose from and we had fantastic meals in the local area. On the last night my colleague was having problems with his passport as he had a new one but, somehow, his flight booking had the old details. He was in quite a state and I was nor around to translate on the phone (He left at a different time to me and I was doing something outside). The front desk sent up a fantastic young man who spoke English and made all sorts of calls for my colleague at 11pm. It was all sorted with his help! Finally, booked a car for airport and again, whisked away in a very comfortable ride.