Asian Adventure: Hotel Shangri-La Xi’an

Asian Adventure: Roof of the World Tour Overview
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific B777-300ER Business Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: The Cabin at HKG
Asian Adventure: Cathay Dragon A330-300 Business Class Hong Kong to Beijing
Asian Adventure: Regent Beijing Hotel
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Dongcheng District
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Great Wall
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Run-ze Jade Garden
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Legend of Kung Fu
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Tiananmen Square
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Forbidden City
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Hutong Tour via Rickshaw, Tea Tasting, Flying to Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Hotel Shangri-La Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Qing Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show
Asian Adventure: Xi’an Wrap-Up, Flying to Lhasa, Lhasa Home Visit
Asian Adventure: Shangri-La Hotel Lhasa
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Market
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Canggu Nunnery and Sera Monastery
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Potala Palace
Asian Adventure: Leaving Lhasa and Flying to Chongqing
Asian Adventure: Viking Emerald
Asian Adventure: Shibaozhai Temple
Asian Adventure: Cruising the Three Gorges
Asian Adventure: Three Gorges Dam
Asian Adventure: Jingzhou City Walls Tour
Asian Adventure: Wuhan - Hubei Bells Performance and Provincial Museum
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Shanghai Museum
Asian Adventure: Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Old Shanghai and Yuyan Gardens
Asian Adventure: The New Otani Tokyo Hotel
Asian Adventure: Tokyo - City Tour
Asian Adventure: Mt. Fuji and Hakone Tour Returning by Shinkansen
Asian Adventure: ANA Suites Lounge Review, Tokyo Narita
Asian Adventure: All Nippon Airways B777-300ER First Class Tokyo Narita to Houston

Our next city was one I was really looking forward to visiting.  Many years ago, not long after I moved to Memphis, a traveling exhibit came through town with some of the Terra Cotta warriors.  I remember finding them fascinating and though they were behind glass we were able to look at them quite closely.  So now we were in Xi'an (see-in) and we'd get to see hundreds of them lined up together.

It was after dark when our plane landed so we didn't get to see much of the city as we were descending.  We identified our luggage and the elves whisked them off the belt for us, taking them on a separate transport to the hotel while we rode our motorcoach.  We'd managed to arrive toward the end of rush hour so it took us a little longer to get to the hotel than we'd hoped.  We also learned that drivers in Xi'an are a bit more aggressive than those in Beijing!

The lobby was quite large and distinctive with faux marble finishes everywhere.  One of the first things that stands out upon entry is this exhibit of mini-warriors to celebrate the hotel's 10th anniversary.

Celebrating 10 years in Xi'an

There were several different seating areas in the lobby.

Shangri-La Xi'an Lobby Seating

Past the seating areas and down a few steps was the bar.

Shangri-La Xi'an Bar Seating

Shangri-La Xi'an Bar Area

To the left was the Yi Café, the buffet-style restaurant where we had dinner that night as well as breakfast both days of our stay.  Asian hotels are known for their vast food offerings on buffets and this one lived up to that reputation.  Chinese and Western breakfast offerings and dishes from all over Asia as well as Europe were at the cooking stations in the evenings.  Unlike our Beijing hotel where we chose our own seating, in this hotel the staff took care of that function, often seating small groups together.  It was here that our group of 31 really started mixing and mingling.

Shangri-La Xi'an Lobby and Yi Café entrance

To the right of the front door was the front desk.  Fortunately Jack took care of the group check-in and then just gave us the keys.

Shangri-La Xi'an Front Desk

Guest Rooms

Our room was on the 18th floor and after exiting the elevator we realized this was one of the floors for the Horizon Club, which is for elite members of the hotel's loyalty program.  I'd signed up for the program on the off chance that we might earn hotel credit but, as I suspected, our rate did not qualify for a stay.

Shangri-La Xi'an 18th floor signage

Leaving the elevator lobby we turned right toward our room, which was located about halfway down the hall.

Shangri-La Xi'an 18th Floor Hallway

The room had the usual hotel layout: bathroom on one side, wardrobe on the other, followed by the living area.  At every other hotel - and even on the boat - the twin beds were separated by at least one night stand.  But here the nightstands were on the outside with the two beds separated just a bit.  I could understand this setup if the twins could be joined as a king but if that were to happen then the bed would be quite far from the two night stands so I'm not sure what the purpose of this layout is.  At least each of the night stands had an outlet, so that was a step up from the Regent Beijing.

Shangri-La Xi'an Twin Beds

Slippers awaited us in front of our dual chairs by the window.

Shangri-La Xi'an Chairs and Slippers

A desk was beside one of the chairs and across from one bed.  If I were a business traveler I'd appreciate this true office-type chair.

Shangri-La Xi'an Guest Room Desk

Beside the desk the TV sat on a small chest that had a drop-down door for the DVD player.

Shangri-La Xi'an Guest Room TV

Next came this small bench that for our brief stay worked well as a luggage stand.  The mini-bar was beside that and it had four bottles of water on top and several different types of drinks inside.

Shangri-La Xi'an Guest Room Bench and Mini-Bar

Shangri-La Xi'an Guest Room Mini-Bar

I loved how many good quality hangers were provided in the wardrobe as well as bathrobes and even an umbrella.  Fortunately we had good weather and did not need it.

Shangri-La Xi'an Guest Room Wardrobe

The cabinet next to the wardrobe had shelves, drawers and the safe.  In the "first time for everything" department we had an issue trying to get the safe open after our outing to see the warriors.  The management was quick to respond and quite apologetic but fortunately it turned out to be only a dying battery that was soon replaced.

Shangri-La Xi'an Safe, Shelves, Drawers

The bathroom had only one sink but a decent amount of counter space on either side.

Shangri-La Xi'an Bathroom Sink

The toilet and the shower were on the right.

Shangri-La Xi'an Shower

The soaking tub was on the left side of the room.  Not only did it have a hand-held nozzle but it even had its own TV.

Shangri-La Xi'an Soaking Tub with TV

In general the bathoom here (and everywhere else we stayed) was cleaner than the one at the Regent because we didn't find signs of mold, even though it was somewhat humid.  The toiletries were Jasmin & Bergamote by L'Occitane and I wasn't too keen on the scent but they worked fine.  The conditioner was way too thick for its bottle and I found it very difficult to squeeze out of the tiny bottles.

Shangri-La Xi'an Toiletries

We were unfortunate enough to have our window facing west.  This was not an issue in the mornings but housekeeping left the curtains wide open while we were gone for the day and our room was a bit of an oven when we returned.  We had the thermostat down as low as it would go but the room just would not cool off.  When maintenance came up to deal with the safe we asked them to make the room cooler - and it was when we returned late that night - but it was still not as cool as I'd have liked.

Pool and Gym

This hotel also had an indoor pool and fortunately I was able to navigate around the foot bath enough that I could take a photo.  They did require anyone wishing to swim to wear a swim cap.

Shangri-La Xi'an Pool

The gym was quite large for a hotel and had hardwood floors throughout the facility.  There were quite a number of weight machines, cardio machines and even free weights.

Common Areas

The main (lobby) floor also had shops, mostly clothing and jewelry.

Shangri-La Xi'an Shopping

There were a couple more restaurants as well, like the Siam Garden which features Thai food.

Siam Garden in the Shangri-La Xi'an 

Tian Xian Ge serves Cantonese cuisine like dim sum and freshly made noodles.  Do you know what a "noodle person" is?  How about a "rice person"?  Jack told us that noodles are traditionally associated with folks from the northern part of China who are traditionally taller than the "rice people" of the south.  Naturally, there are exceptions like former NBA star Yao Ming who is 7' 4" but is a "rice person" from Shanghai.

Tian Xian Ge inside the Shangri-La Xi'an 

The business center was very different from any business center I'd visited before.  In the main room was this long table covered with a black cloth.  There was one person working there but that was it.

This is the business center?

There were a couple of small side rooms, suitable for a conference of 2-6 people.  This one had comfortable chairs apparently stolen from Great-Aunt Mildred's house.

Aunt Millie wants her doilies back!

The even smaller room was made to feel smaller yet with these overstuffed black chairs covered with purple throws.

Oddest business decor ever?

This is a conference hotel and while there were no conferences currently in progress, the staff was hard at work getting the rooms cleaned up.  I liked the life-sized warriors positioned around the area.  Though the colors on the original warriors had faded, these replications were made to look as the originals would have all those centuries ago.

Warriors guarding the conference rooms

The hotel is much larger than it first appears and the section of town was quite busy.  But the hotel always seemed to be an oasis of calm, and even during the busy breakfast hour we never had trouble getting seated in a timely manner, so kudos to the staff for running a good place to stay.