Background
LN Garden Hotel, Nansha which opened in August 2018 is the sister hotel of the LN Garden Hotel located in Guangzhou’s city centre, and is one of the newly opened hotels in the Pearl River Delta.
In April, the hotel became a member of the “Worldhotels Elite” collection of the independent hotel alliance Worldhotels.
Where is it?
The property is situated inside the Nansha Coastal Park in Guangzhou’s southern suburban Nansha District, which is part of a pilot free trade zone in Guangdong province. The local business district in Nansha is 15 minutes by car from the hotel, whilst Guangzhou’s city centre is further away. It takes around 75 minutes to get to Zhujiang New Town, the city’s central business district, by car.
In terms of nearby public transport options, the hotel is a 10-minute drive from Nansha Passenger Port, which provides a 90-minute ferry connection to Hong Kong (to China Hong Kong City in Tsim Sha Tsui), and a 70-minute ferry ride to Hong Kong International Airport.
Compared with Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, located in the north of Guangzhou, the hotel is actually closer to Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, from where it’s a one-hour drive to the property
Nearby attractions include Nansha Marina Club, Nansha Golf Club, Nansha Tianhou Palace, Sunflower Garden and Nansha Wetland.
What’s it like?
From afar, the hotel resembles a luxury cruise ship (see the main picture of this article), which I think to some extent echoes Nansha’s historical role as a fishing port and an important passenger and cargo port today.
The lobby is located on Level 2. It’s spacious and features a pendant artwork called “Echoes of a Light Second” in the central atrium. The artwork is made of over 1,600 transparent acrylic triangular rods hanging from the roof. When natural light pours in from the glass roof during the daytime, the prisms placed at different angles create a variety of light and shade effects.
When I visited the hotel on a sunny afternoon, the prisms created beautiful rainbow colours throughout the space.
Right below the central artwork is another waterscape art piece made of terrazzo, which creates a mirror-like pond surface with the reflection of the pendant artwork.
The room
There are 365 guestrooms and suites divided into different categories: Superior Room; Deluxe Room; Executive Room; Apartment Suite with full kitchen facilities; Family Suites that feature themed furniture, customised toiletries and wooden building blocks for kids; LN Suite; and Presidential Suite.
Each guestroom and suite has its own private balcony. The largest 365-sqm Presidential Suite even has a balcony that has a 270-degree view with a Jacuzzi.
I was staying in Room 891, a 55-sqm Executive Room on Level 8 with a king-sized bed. Behind the door on the right-hand side is a small cloakroom where you can find a clothing rack and other amenities such as slippers and an iron.
The king-sized bed is equipped with a long wooden bench. When I returned to my room in the evening, I was surprised to see a pair of cute towel rabbits as part of the turndown service.
A pair of Chinese type sockets (both two-port and three-port), a USB plug, and a Olixar Qi-Tone alarm clock Bluetooth speaker can be found above the bedside table near the bathroom. There’s a small living room area on the other side of the bed with a small sofa and a round table.
In front of the bed, there’s a wall-mounted TV and another small round table with two chairs and a lamp. A stationery kit is provided as well, which contains a pen, a ruler, a yellow highlighter, an eraser, a stapler with two piles of staples, as well as some clips.
The mini bar can be found next to the lamp. In addition to complimentary tea bags and Nespresso coffee capsules, there are also some other beverages and snacks you have to pay for.
The bathroom area is separated from the bedroom with a sliding curtain. The bathtub is placed just behind the curtain. I really like the bathtub’s inlet, which, unlike the traditional tap design, allows water to just come out from a small hole and thus does not make loud a loud splashing sound when filling the bathtub.
As mentioned above, each guest room and suite has its own private balcony. The balcony of my room offered a nearly 180-degree view of the hotel garden, the park area and the sea. This is the view from the balcony of my room:
There are also two white chairs if you want to stay and enjoy the lush greenery:
Food and beverage
The hotel is home to five dining venues.
Café Flora is the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant located on Level 1. Guests can either use the lift to go downstairs or just walk down the white spiral staircase near the lobby bar.
I had my breakfast and lunch here during my stay. The food selection was decent, and I would say the hotel really takes advantage of its location in Nansha, which is famous for its seafood and fruits. In particular, there were a variety of locally grown fruits to choose from, such as watermelons, oranges, dragon fruits, cantaloupes, bananas, plums and guavas.
During lunch and dinner time, there’s also an ice cream station offering 12 flavours of ice cream.
The two-storey Peach Blossom is a Chinese restaurant adorned with metal hanging down from the ceiling, which resembles fishing nets and reflects Nansha’s history as a fishing port. The main dining hall can seat up to 60 guests, and there are six private rooms. It’s open for breakfast (7:30am-2pm), lunch (11am-2pm) and dinner (5:30pm-10pm).
Grill is a specialty restaurant featuring barbecue food for dinner (5:30pm-10pm) on Level 2. Each dining table is equipped with self-service barbecue equipment, and the restaurant also has an outdoor dining area.
On the lobby level, there’s also the Seed patisserie and a lobby lounge for afternoon tea and drinks.
Executive lounge
The hotel has an executive lounge on Level 8 for guests staying at Executive Rooms and suites.
The 204-sqm executive lounge can accommodate up to 56 guests. Like all the guestrooms and suites, it also features a long balcony. Lounge guests can enjoy exclusive services such as private check-in and check-out services, breakfast for up to two guests, evening cocktail and snacks (6pm-8:30pm), and all-day complimentary soft drinks and refreshments (7am-10pm).
Business services like printing and scanning are also provided, and the executive lounge is also equipped with desktop computers free for use.
Leisure facilities
The leisure facilities are located on the ground floor. In addition to a 24-hour gym, there are two swimming pools. One of them is a heated indoor pool that has both an indoor and outdoor swimming area, which means guests can swim directly from indoors to outdoors or vice versa. The other one is an outdoor pool located just beside this one.
What’s more, the hotel also offers bicycle rental services. Available bicycle types include single bikes, dual mountain bikes, as well as four-wheel bicycles for two and four people. Rates start from RMB50 (US$7) for a single bike per hour. Guests can rent these bikes for cycling around the hotel and the coastal park.
Other recreational facilities include a billiards room and a dedicated playing centre for kids on the ground floor, as well as a tennis court near the hotel entrance that guests can book for RMB80 (US$11.4) per hour.
Meeting and event facilities
The hotel has over 2,000 sqm of event and meeting space. The 600-sqm International Convention Centre on the ground floor is the hotel’s largest pillarless banquet hall, and is equipped with a 30-sqm high-definition LED screen. A new 1,200-sqm conference centre is now under construction and the hotel says it will open at the end of this year.
Also on the ground floor, there’s The Connoisseur, which was described as a “high-end private noble space” by the hotel, and can be used to host small meetings and banquets.
On Level 3, there are six small meeting rooms, which offer 1,278 sqm of event space. The hotel’s outdoor lawn can also be used for weddings and events.
Verdict
This hotel is more for leisure than business, though it’s still a good choice for corporate travellers doing business in the local business district. It was indeed really comfortable staying here as I felt so close to nature. Since the hotel is situated in a coastal park far from the city centre, it’s a decent choice for those who want to temporarily escape from the busy city life and enjoy the fresh air and the lush greenery surrounding the hotel.
Quick facts
- Best for… the great natural environment surrounding the hotel
- Don’t miss… going for a walk or cycling inside the coastal park
- Price Internet rates for an Executive Room in late-November start from RMB1,160 (US$165), tax not included
- Contact 1, Da Jiao Er Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou, China; +86 20 3210 8888; lnhotels.com
