I ended my trip staying in panda-paradise – what panda lover wouldn’t want to stay in a panda themed hotel?!?! When visiting the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou I knew I wanted to stay nearby to make the most of my time there. Chimelong has a whole series of resorts, with the Guangzhou site being just one of them with a number of parks, activities and hotels on offer, of course I chose the Chimelong Panda Hotel for my stay! They’ve gone all out, it is completely all about the pandas here. When I went on to Hong Kong I knew I also wanted to stay close to Ocean Park, and you can’t get closer than the Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel. It’s quite literally on the doorstep of the park, and while the whole hotel isn’t panda themed, you can choose a panda themed room!

Chimelong Panda Hotel

Wow wow wow – I mean I knew it would be all about pandas, but pandas are everywhere, it’s the place for me! I asked around a bit before booking, but didn’t no-one else I knew had stayed previously. I struggled to book on the official website, so made my booking through trip.com and that worked perfectly (could also check out previous reviews and guest photos there as well). There are 3 themes of rooms, which match up to the panda triplets – the rooms are categorised as ‘smart’, ‘cool’ and ‘cute’, with increasing prices across the categories, but essentially they are all the same room (and same size listed online). Originally I had booked the ‘smart’ room, the cheapest, for £108 for 1 night mid-week in February, but when I checked in I was very kindly upgraded to a ‘Prince family’ room. I am yet to understand where chickens come in to panda theming, but the room was a chicken-panda themed room XD I have noticed now there is a new category higher than this, the ‘Meizhu family’ room, which looks very adorable! From the photos online, the family rooms just have an extra bed/bunk bed in addition to the king bed, and twin rooms are also available. Bathrooms all look to be the same but with different colour theming.

My room overlooked the front of the building so I could see some of the pandas on the outside of the building, but of course there were also pandas on the railing (I did try to open the window, but I think it must have been locked shut). The room was very spacious overall, plenty of space for luggage and to spread out. The bed was also huge, definitely bigger than a king – I lay in the middle and stretched my arms out and couldn’t reach either side! Very comfy and I had a great nights sleep here. And the amenities were also panda themed, from the toiletries in the bathroom, to the mugs in the room, and the information sheets – all pandas! And the duvet cover was also beautiful, it looked plain white but on closer inspection there were pandas embossed on it, a very nice touch.

The general spaces around the hotel were also themed, with the lift lobby’s particularly impressive with beautiful mosaics. The main lobby was huge and quite stunning, with a huge skylight and a hot air balloon display in the middle. Here one side was for checking in, and one for checking out and luggage storage – there were signs for all 3 in both Chinese and English. When I checked in, the staff member didn’t speak English, but we had no problems communicating with my limited Chinese and a translate app. On checking out and leaving my luggage, staff at both these stations spoke English. There were a few gift shops on the main passageway as well, plenty of panda merch to buy, this was mostly the same as what was in the parks but I think I did see a few things here that was unique. There was also a stand selling the same animal ice lollies that were available in the park. There are several restaurant/dining options at the hotel, I didn’t eat at the hotel – I arrived at 2PM to check in and would have liked lunch, but lunch ended at 2PM, so maybe next time! It looked like they had a huge range of cuisines, so I think something for everyone.

Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel

So the Ocean Park Marriott isn’t entirely panda themed, but they do have several themed rooms you can choose to book, including a panda one! Since the twins were born and the new pair of adult pandas arrived, there is also a lot of cute advertising en-route to the hotel as well, I adore these cutie designs and think they’re the perfect touch for the glass railings on the way to the hotel. They’re also all over the railings on the way out of the metro station. I think the perfect welcome to the hotel. It was just a few minutes walk from the metro station to the hotel across the elevated walkways, just follow the signs for Ocean Park and you really can’t miss it.

I stayed 2 nights in this hotel, but didn’t really do a lot of exploring in the hotel. I believe one of the restaurants had some panda themed items, but I hardly had any time in the hotel itself! I arrived around 7:30PM after taking the train from Guangzhou and immediately settled into my amazing themed room. Honestly such a lovely hotel and such a comfortable room, the best experience. I had pretty much no time to spend in the general hotel spaces, so can’t really speak to what it has to offer – I arrived in the evening and was just in the room, the next day I was out from 7:30AM until 10:30PM, and then it was my checkout day and I left around 9:15AM after packing to join the line for Ocean Park – but I did see the crazy aquarium in the lobby^ So maybe I will find time to enjoy a panda treat from the cafe or bar next time, there did seem to be a bar open when I was checking in, but I was pretty tired by that point and ready for bed.

The panda themed room is amazing, I would completely recommend this for a panda fan (or for a family who likes something a little bit extra). Whereas the Chimelong Panda Hotel does generally seem a little more geared towards families, the Ocean Park Marriott is definitely not restricted to that and the style is suited to adults as well. When I walked in the room the first thing I saw was the carpet with the nature style design and panda paw prints, absolutely adorable (and was super soft). I really liked the wood panelling, the bamboo design on the wall and all the more subtle design touches. While the bedding didn’t have pandas on it, the beds themselves were pandas, this was so sweet and I loved this a lot. Plus it was a comfy bed, I had a great nights sleep here. I don’t remember the size of the beds, in the photo they look like singles, but I think they were larger than a standard single. For me the stand out design element was the bathroom tiling – in the bath/shower the wall that isn’t glass has a beautiful tiled bamboo, giant panda and red panda design, this is such a fantastic idea and really makes the room as a whole stand out. The room and bathroom as a whole were very stylish panda and also modern. The view from the room was over towards the main road and metro station, the windows were very well insulated and I didn’t hear any noise at all (nor from any neighbours either, a great plus!) – for all the time I spent in the room, I’d say 75% of it was sleeping, so a special view wasn’t particularly important to me.

I stayed here for 2 nights mid-week in February and paid approximately £400 in total – Hong Kong is generally more expensive for hotels, so paying a little extra for a panda themed room didn’t make it much more expensive than the typical range of hotel prices for Hong Kong. I am already planning to stay in the hotel again on my next trip because the convenience to Ocean Park to get in line early to see the pandas is completely worth it!