Property: Commune by the Great Wall, Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Greater Beijing, China
Tier: Globalist
Booked: Point stay for 1bedroom Suite
Received: A rundown 1 bedroom suite and various amenities (see details in my report below)
This is a really difficult property to rate. Yes, it is very unique. But we had expectations that ended up being very underwhelming and I don’t think this is our fault- this property works really hard to create these (rather misleading) expectations: The photos on the website, the description which makes it sound as if you get your own private part of the wall to walk to and explore (reality here looks completely different but I will get to this shortly) and also just the simple fact that this is part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, which usually houses only high quality 5 Star properties.
But from the beginning: We arrived from central Beijing in the outrageously overpriced hotel limousine, which is unfortunately almost essential if you don’t have a a car of your own, as the location is indeed very isolated. On arrival, none of the front desk employees spoke a word of English but we managed to get everything done using translation apps. We had been in touch in advance and one of the English-speaking employees had kindly reserved restaurant seats for dinner, and showed up shortly after to assist with our check in and explaining how the property is laid out, so no biggie.
On arrival in our suite (we had used Hyatt points to book a suite), we noticed straight away that the aircon does not work properly. It was about 24 degrees and we were hoping to cool down the room a bit, but the vents were rather blowing out hot air. This seems to be a very Chinese problem as we’ve encountered overheated places everywhere, but this is of course unacceptable for a supposedly 5 Star Hyatt hotel. We spoke to our English-speaking friend at the hotel but she just told us to “switch it off altogether as the system goes with the prevailing wind”. This is totally not how an aircon is supposed to work and not a solution
The aircon situation never changed no matter what time of day and no matter what setting. It just kept blowing really hot air to warm up to the room to a crazily overheated 25 degree or so- just as the Chinese seem to like it. We ended up sleeping with all the windows and doors open but I can only imagine what a disaster this would be in the midst of Summer (just thinking of all the Insects coming in makes me shudder!) and for us, this alone is a reason why we would not to recommend this property to any Westerner ever, as sad as this is.
But this is not all: The entire property is pretty rundown, way too much so to justify being part of the Unbound Collection by Hyatt. Our room had scuff marks, all the buildings on property look faded and worn even from the outside (maybe except for the bamboo buildings) and entirely different from the pictures on their website which must be ten or more years old. Likewise, inside- we even found dirty tea cups that clearly had not been cleaned between guests but rather just flushed quickly under water (drink stains still in it, bah) and our carpets at the bed and in the living room were also dirty, the fittings in the toilet old and rusty, all not very pleasant, and likewise the windows and balcony door all haven’t been cleaned seemingly in weeks or longer: Even the balcony itself had dirt and rust stains all over.
To be fair, there were also some positives: The bed itself is very comfortable and firm, just the way we like it. If you’re after a more plush kind of bedding, then this is not your place. We personally like a more firm mattress with a simple Duvet and we therefore slept like babies. We received nice amenities including a fruit bowl, a handwritten welcome card, a bottle of South African bubbles (which tasted like, well, South African bubbles- it certainly ain’t French champagne! But still a nice gesture) and, most importantly, a super cute little plush squirrel with Commune branding which we adore.
Service overall was mostly good and as non-Chinese guests we were taken special care of by the front desk manager and even the hotel manager herself- they were super nice people all around. Not sure if those niceties are for all foreigners or just for suite/ Globalist guests but it was very much appreciated. The rest of the staff was sometimes hard to communicate with and my very limited Mandarin skills went a long way. Some of them seemed like they needed a bit more training though- on the last day, we asked for a shuttle to pick us up from the room and down to the reception area with all our luggage and the driver arrived and just sat there, staring at us lugging the heavy suitcases down the stairs (no elevators in those buildings if you’re staying on the upper floor) without any attempt to help.
The restaurant was probably the highlight of the entire hotel, we loved it! All the food we had at dinner was great and highly recommended, everything tasted amazing, was well presented and definitely worth the money, prices that we found quite fair for a fancy hotel like this.
The breakfast buffet on the contrary was rather forgettable- besides the repeatedly ice cold Eggs Benedict which I certainly will NOT ever forget as they were by far the worst I’ve ever come across in my entire life.
Overall, we couldn’t stop being disappointed that the whole property unfortunately looks quite different from the pictures you see on their website. All older and really run down, the buildings all worn and generally much closer together than it seems on the website’s misleading photographs. We had asked for a nice view and stared at the mountain wall and a parking lot. After exploring the property a bit more, it actually doesn’t look like there would be nice views anywhere at all, definitely not these sweeping Mountain views they somehow manage on their website (these must be taken at a really amazing camera angle or good photoshop skills- not sure what). Needless to say, both the children and adult pools were closed despite 26 daytime temperature (at least that part was honest on their website).
But now to the worst disappointment of all: The much advertised hiking trail to a private part of the Great Wall. We had even asked about it in advance and they confirmed while you cannot climb onto the wall itself, you definitely can hike up to the fence at least. However, on arrival, we were told that the “path is risky” and we better go into town to tour the touristy renovated bit of the wall instead. Luckily, we had already been to a different renovated part of the wall a day earlier (at a different part of greater Beijing) but we very much were looking forward to seeing this unrenovated empty stretch of the wall. It’s all fine if it’s locked up behind a fence for safety, but advertising this feature all over their marketing material and then just being told that getting there is “risky” is false advertising, straight up. The hotel website even had its own section called “Hike to the Great Wall” and promises that “the hotel is located within walking distance of the Great Wall. Explore an untouched and crowd-free piece of Chinese history, entrenched in the wild beauty of the landscape” but then in reality staff is rather embarrassed to even talk about it. On our second day, we realised why that is: We actually went for a bit of a wander and knew instantly why they’re so reluctant to let you explore the magic path. That part of the property has lots of completely derelict non-operational hotel buildings- one of them had the door open and a cold (wonder oh wonder!) air conditioning blow was blasting from inside. There was no one around, only empty rooms, mattresses stored upside down and rust all over the formerly glorious buildings. We felt that it was quite a crime to let these buildings rot away like that- we imagined the whole time what you could do with this property if anyone (Hyatt, hey, do you hear us?) invested just a little bit of money and care. The path to the wall itself (which we only ventured a few metres down) was overgrown and had safety warnings all along, it was pretty clear that no one hikes this at all anymore. So take this lie off your website, we felt totally duped!
Overall pros of this property: The locale for an authentic Chinese experience that is away from the hustle and bustle of the city; restaurant food is fantastic for dinner; size and style of rooms; the staff trying very hard to please guests, including all managers/host-level staff speaking English.
Overall cons of this property: The hard product is run down and doesn’t look in the slightest like on the photos, the air conditioning isn’t working in the rooms and management seems to think that this is acceptable. Some buildings of the property are completely not in use which is a shame, the breakfast is not that great, the staff can be a bit chaotic, and most importantly the Great Wall is not accessible from the property directly which is their major marketing draw card (it’s fine if it’s not accessible, just don’t advertise it!!).
Things to know before you come: Yes there are 11 architectural styles of buildings on site but there are actually about 30 buildings in total e.g. the red cantilever house, the bamboo house and the white neighbourhood and white shared houses all exist about 6-7 times across the property. Some buildings have suites, some have normal rooms, some buildings are 2-3 (maybe 4?) bedrooms. The website isn’t very clear about it and enquiring beforehand did also not really help explain properly. We were in one of the white neighbourhood buildings which seemed to only have 1 bedroom suites within. Another thing to note is that while the direct access to the wall is not available within the commune property, the tourist-accessible part in the village below the property is only a short walk (or VERY short drive) away so if you are planning your Commune stay as your only opportunity to see the Great Wall, enquire about accessing the wall there.
