[Pros]
The main reason I chose this place in the beginning was the facilities. I searched through all the serviced apartments in Qingdao on Trip.com, and this one comes with a standard kitchen, washing machine, and refrigerator, and allows actual cooking. Such fully-equipped units are quite rare among similar apartments in Qingdao.
Whenever I reached out to the staff with a request, I got a response; when I had an issue, someone actually took care of it. Full marks for that!
A special shout-out to the parking garage management team: the young guys are proactive, friendly, always smiling, and very polite. Worried that drivers might not catch their verbal instructions, they also use clear hand gestures to guide traffic. You need to show a parking pass each time you enter and exit. Even though this repetitive verification could be tedious, their warm and pleasant attitude made every check-in/out feel smooth and welcoming. When I first arrived and checked in, the instructions were quite lengthy—enough to make even me a bit impatient—yet the young man patiently walked us through everything from start to finish. The service and management at the parking garage is definitely a major highlight of the entire property.
[Cons]
Poor soundproofing, cheap interior materials, and a low-quality living feel.
The floor slabs are very thin, resulting in terrible sound insulation between floors. You can hear every single movement from upstairs and downstairs loud and clear. The interior finishing materials are cheap, making the overall experience feel much worse than economy chain hotels like Atour or Ji Hotel—it has a very cheap feel. I originally booked for two weeks, but after reading numerous negative reviews, I shortened it to a week. Based on actual experience, even a week-long stay felt subpar.
The service itself is fine, but the management might be a bit too localized perhaps? Front desk management is chaotic, lacking service awareness, poor at protecting personal privacy, and the overall atmosphere is cold (there were always three young women at the desk, and none of them ever smiled).
There are plenty of staff members on duty, but the division of labor is unreasonable. Picking up packages was an unpleasant experience; they don't greet guests proactively, and you usually have to call out twice before they take care of you. When what appeared to be their supervisor was present (judging by their tone), multiple staff members were handling package pickups at the same time, repeatedly asking for tracking numbers and even taking my phone multiple times to check the tracking number themselves—a very inefficient and repetitive process. The staff practically never smiled; every time I picked up a package, I felt awkward, as if I were intruding.
On another occasion when picking up a package, I told the staff member my room number, and he directly shouted it out loud to other staff members across the lobby, loud enough for the entire lobby to hear. Guest room information was openly leaked, showing a serious lack of discretion regarding personal privacy. The hardware (washing machine, refrigerator, induction cooker, range hood) is there, but the supporting service and management just don't measure up.
On the day of check-in, after driving for several hours to Qingdao under the scorching sun, I had quite a bit of luggage because I was staying for a bit over a short period, so I wanted to borrow a luggage cart to help move things. There were several staff members at the front desk, and before even looking at my luggage, they flatly said they were busy and couldn't help move it, though I could borrow the cart. However, the front desk wasn't actually busy at the time (I was the only customer). I did notice later during busy hours that most guests were Korean tourists traveling with just a single suitcase, rarely needing assistance with luggage. In the end, I moved everything myself, politely thanking them throughout and respecting their rules. I didn't want to make things difficult for the staff, but this incident directly lowered my psychological expectations of the apartment. Objectively speaking, the staff did answer questions when asked, but they lacked service awareness and had a rather indifferent attitude—the only exception was a bespectacled girl with some acne on Wednesday who smiled very warmly.
Furthermore: Unreasonable kitchenware rules, severely incomplete amenities, and substandard kitchenware hygiene.
The listing states that kitchenware can be requested from the front desk. After inquiring, I was told they only provide a steamer and a boiling pot—no wok, and not even a soup ladle. The reason given was that cooking stir-fried dishes leaves odors that affect the next guest.
Since the apartment features an open kitchen with an induction cooker, and I don't cook heavy-smoke dishes anyway, cooking odors can actually be easily managed with proper ventilation and cleaning—cigarette smoke is far more likely to leave lingering odors. Even though I had my doubts, I respected the apartment's rules and didn't argue further. Also, disposable chopsticks are provided by the hotel, but let's be real, you only use them once. Good thing we have the habit of bringing our own chopsticks. At similar-grade brand apartments, at least basic tableware is provided; you surely shouldn't have to bring your own soup ladle~
The two large WMF pots provided were in terrible condition, with dried water stains mixed with dust—obviously put away by the hotel without being thoroughly washed and dried after the previous guest used them. While they worry about cooking odors affecting future guests, the hygiene of the reusable kitchenware itself wasn't up to par; the control buttons were covered in grease, and I had to spend a long time wiping off the grease myself with my own de-greasing wet wipes.
They only provide large pots; small items like soup ladles, noodle strainers, and long chopsticks are completely missing. For short-term guests like us, it's unreasonable to expect us to carry soup ladles or noodle skimmers around with us; other chain apartments of the same tier at least provide a kitchen sponge/rag (either for first-time use or weekly replacement, depending on the frequency) for simple wiping and dishwashing, but there was none here either. The apartment cleaning staff won't help wash pots used by guests (which is totally fine), but lacking a dishcloth, we had to resort to using tissues temporarily.
I suspect that most of the apartment's clientele either stay for 1–2 days or rent long-term for over six months, so guests like us staying for a few weeks don't fit their mold well, making many rules somewhat unsuitable. Long-term tenants can have packages delivered directly to their doors, while short-term guests like us have to pick them up at the front desk ourselves; small kitchen supplies also lack matching provisions. Luckily, we brought some supplies of our own to barely get by; it would have been extremely inconvenient without prior preparation.
I kept my composure and remained polite throughout, but the apartment's actual service level is a matter of personal opinion. Every hardware facility is present, but staff training, on-site management, privacy protection, kitchenware provisions, and basic hygiene all fall short of the basic standards expected of serviced apartments. Only the parking garage management's service is worth praising.
Summary: Suitable only for guests who strictly need a kitchen and a washing machine, don't care about soundproofing, service atmosphere, privacy, kitchenware provisions, or hygiene, and are willing to bring plenty of small kitchen items themselves. If you care about living comfort, service details, and personal data security, this place is not a great fit. However, given the limited options currently available in Qingdao, this place is, at best, just another option.
Original TextTranslation provided by AI
