UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li by Hyatt [In-Depth Hotel Review]

In mid-June 2024, my wife and I spent 3 nights at a hotel from a brand we knew very little about. In fact, this brand only exists in mainland China. It’s called UrCove and participates in World of Hyatt, yet this brand remains largely unknown to travelers from the Americas.

From a convenient location to a great price point and huge breakfast buffet, there were definite positives to our stay at the UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li. And free laundry was an impressive novelty here. The positives offset the multiple negatives we encountered, which were often frustrating.

Here’s how our 3 nights at the UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li unfolded.

Booking the UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li

Nearly all UrCove properties are Category 1 hotels within the World of Hyatt program. That means they’re available for 5,000 points during standard pricing — or as few as 3,500 points per night during off-peak dates.

However, with room rates as low as $49.45 per night during our stay at UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li, cash was king. Redeeming 5,000 Hyatt points to save less than $50 would’ve provided a redemption rate of less than 1 cent per point. That’s well below our average value for Hyatt points at 1.5 cents apiece.

Interestingly, the room rates didn’t vary much, with super rooms available at $54 and deluxe rooms available at $55.

Hot Tip:

We paid for our stay with The World of Hyatt Credit Card, earning 9x points — 4 Bonus Points per $1 spent on qualified purchases at Hyatt properties worldwide, plus up to 5 Base Points per $1 as a World of Hyatt member.

Location of UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li

The UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li is in north-central Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province — famous for pandas, if you’re wondering why we wound up here. The hotel was roughly half a mile from its namesake Wenshu Monastery and half a mile from the Wenshu Monastery stop on the Chengdu metro’s line 1 (dark purple on the subway maps).

The hotel was surrounded by shops, restaurants, cafés, and even several government buildings and hospitals. Despite being a busy area, it didn’t feel noisy or chaotic, like some other parts of the city.

Checking In

We arrived in a blistering heat with what felt like 9,000% humidity outside, and we took the lazy approach, getting a taxi from the subway station to the hotel, despite being just a few blocks away. Pushing our suitcases another few blocks after a long travel day wasn’t appealing in the scorching afternoon.

The large signage on both sides of the hotel (which was at the corner of the intersection) made it easy to identify.

Immediately inside the entrance, we were greeted by a bare jump lobby. With no signs and no employees, we assumed our next task was finding the elevator up to a reception desk.

Luckily, signage at the elevators made it clear that the lobby was on the fourth floor.

Rolling our luggage out of the elevator, we were immediately greeted by a panda — the adorable animal being one of the top reasons people visit Chengdu.

Around the corner, we found a small goal and soccer ball next to a cutout of Cristiano Ronaldo, as the Euro Cup was underway during our visit.

Nearby was a large sitting area and a TV built into the wall.

What happened next was a rather strange check-in process.

As we approached the small reception desk, an employee smiled and greeted us. I handed over our passports, then she immediately called for someone else in Chinese. We got the impression that she didn’t speak English and might be asking for help.

At this point, the manager arrived and completed our check-in formalities in flawless English while explaining the hotel’s amenities, breakfast hours, and our upgraded room. She also handed us the paperwork we needed for our onward journey to Tibet, which a courier had dropped off at the hotel that morning.

As we concluded the check-in process, the younger woman returned with our passports and a pair of key cards bearing the brand’s slogan: “UrCove [pronounced “your cove”] Your Friend.”

The key cards came in the cutest paper holder I’ve ever seen at a hotel.

But here’s where it got confusing: The younger woman wished us an enjoyable stay and told us we could call upon her if we needed anything during our stay — in English. We’d gotten the impression that she didn’t speak English when she didn’t even muster a “hello” upon arrival, so the whole process of handing us off to the manager became a bit odd if she could’ve spoken English but chose not to.

Unfortunately, these were the only 2 hotel employees we encountered who could speak English.

Elite Benefits

We enjoyed several benefits from my Hyatt Globalist status, though the most important benefits (for us) were complimentary.

We received an upgrade to an Executive Deluxe King, which would’ve cost $70 per night instead of the $49.45 we’d paid for a standard room. We also received an offer for a 4 p.m. late checkout, though we wouldn’t need it on our final day.

These benefits came on top of perks included for everyone at the UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li, such as complimentary Wi-Fi and a complimentary breakfast buffet each morning. We also would’ve enjoyed free parking, if we’d had a rental car.

Executive Deluxe King Bedroom

Point blank, the room numbers at this hotel didn’t make sense. At check-in, we were told that our room was 710 on the seventh floor. When we got out of the elevator, all of the rooms had 87- prefixes. We assumed we’d mistakenly gone to the eighth floor, so we went back in the elevator, pushed 7, and didn’t go anywhere.

All of the room had an 8- prefix, so 87- on the seventh floor, 86- on the sixth floor. I have no idea why.

After figuring out that we were on the right floor, we headed down the hallway, which had a mix of geometric patterns on the floor and solid, single-colored panels on the walls.

Each room had a solid wooden door plus a wooden panel next to it holding a clearly illuminated sign with the room number.

This electronic panel also had a doorbell and digital signs for either requesting housekeeping (a green broom) or requesting privacy (a red bell with a slash through it).

Immediately inside the door, we found a set of switches to operate the do-not-disturb and housekeeping features and to control the lights in the room — though that required having a key card in the slot.

Bathroom

We entered into the bathroom area, which had tiled walls and floors that matched the simple, earth-toned vibe of most of the hotel. Between a shower closet on the left and a toilet closet on the right, a large area in the center of the bathroom had abundant counter space and a large mirror on the wall. The sink was the centerpiece in this bathroom and felt sophisticated and spacious.

Along with travel-size toiletries and a bar of soap on the counter, we found single-use items like a spare toothbrush and cotton swabs in a box at the far end.

Towels were on a shelf under the counter, while a digital scale was available on the floor.

Closest to the room’s entry was the shower, which had tiled walls and a shower nozzle you could remove to hold in your hand if desired. Pump bottles of Portico Verbena toiletries had a slight pomegranate smell that we liked.

Looking around, we couldn’t figure out where to hang the towels after using them. The bar on the glass door to the shower could only hold 1 towel.

We improved by using the bar in the open closet (directly across from the shower, next to the door) for the other.

This closet area had a few wooden hangers and a pair of bathrobes, as well as a sturdy platform we found handy for sitting down to put on and take off our shoes.

On a shelf under the closet area, we found a laundry bag, a shoe-cleaning kit, and 2 pairs of the best hotel slippers I’ve ever seen.

They were comfortable and sturdy — not like that flimsy cardboard in most hotel slippers.

Also on this shelf, we found a flashlight and a fire blanket, which was a standard item in all our hotels across China.

The toilet had numerous controls that we couldn’t decipher. This remote control on the wall didn’t include any English, and we failed to figure out the buttons intuitively.

This button on the side of the toilet flushed the toilet most of the time, so we just hit that until we got the desired result.

Bedroom

The bedroom was spacious and full of natural light. We loved it. From the enormous windows to the fact we had sufficient space to move around without bumping into anything, this was a great room.

A firm (a little too firm, if you ask me) king-size bed sat in the middle, holding 4 pillows that I’ll give a 5 out of 10 on the support scale. The pencil sketch artwork on the wall above provided a nice touch without taking away from the hotel’s simple decor.

A note next to the bed told us about the hotel’s conservation efforts and how to request a change of sheets.

Each side of the bed had a reading light on an adjustable arm.

Each side of the bed had a panel with controls — controls for the curtains on one side of the bed and light switches on the other side. We also found a plug-in air freshener and TV remote neatly organized on one nightstand.

The other nightstand held a notepad and a tablet that we thought was just a digital display until it rang, completely surprising us. After that, we played with it to realize we could get a weather forecast and view information about both the hotel and the local area.

Each side of the bed had outlets that could accept 3 different plug formats, as well as USB-A and USB-C. Plus, we found another pair of outlets near the sitting area and near the chair. Thus there was no shortage of space for charging our devices.

At the far end of the room was a padded armchair, a small wooden table, and a painting on the wall.

Near the entrance to the bedroom area was a simple digital thermostat that worked intuitively.

Sitting Area

At the end of the bathroom area, the main bedroom opened to the right. To the left was a small sitting area with a loveseat, a circular table, and a minibar near another floor-to-ceiling window.

On top of the minibar, we found a Nespresso machine and pods, plus a kettle, teabags, mugs, and bottles of water.

Opening the doors underneath, we found a small safe and a minifridge with a large sign saying its contents were complimentary.

Along with a pack of chips and some cookies, we found easily identifiable Coke products, despite their names being in Chinese.

Views

Our views weren’t anything special, overlooking a busy intersection and facing other buildings in the area. That said, the windows didn’t let in any sound from the street below; that made us happy. Automatic curtains provided both daytime and blackout options. We controlled these with the panel next to the bed and a second panel near the window.

Amenities

We arrived at the hotel with very modest expectations for amenities, given the price. Instead, the UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li by Hyatt completely surprised us by offering much more than your typical Category 1 property.

Elevators

The hotel had 2 banks of 2 elevators each. These operated quickly, and we never had to wait long for an elevator. The waiting areas all featured black elevator doors and wood paneling. The only difference was that guest floors had carpeting in the elevator waiting area, while public floors had tile flooring.

The elevators wouldn’t win any awards for size, but they held us and our luggage without effort. The elevators’ interiors had carpet flooring with the hotel logo, wood paneling at the rear, and mirrors on both sides — plus a lot of light.

There are elevator buttons, and then there are these monsters. The buttons were huge and easy to identify. Tapping a button for a floor with guest rooms required tapping your key card, and you could only access the floor you were staying on.

Outdoor Patio

On the fourth floor, behind the lobby, was a generous outdoor patio lined with bushes and small trees to create a garden vibe in the middle of the city. It also had multiple tables with chairs and umbrellas to block both the sun and the summer rains.

We loved these chairs with a small table fashioned out of barrels. The chairs could easily slide inside the table to save space, and they provided a unique element.

A small wooden bridge connected this portion of the patio to another.

This side of the patio was much simpler, holding a few bag chairs, folding tables, and umbrellas.

The far end of the patio gave us the impression that it was still under construction.

Rooftop

The hotel’s amenities also listed a tea bar on the rooftop. We were surprised to find all the lights turned off during 2 attempted visits.

Locks on the doors to the rooftop indicated it was closed, even though there weren’t any official signs.

Internet

Internet speeds were decent at 21 Mbps for downloads. Uploads were pretty slow — below 4 Mbps on average.

The real downside to the internet speeds came when we had to use a VPN to access sites like Facebook and Instagram, as those are blocked in China. Turning on our VPN made the hotel’s internet speeds crawl.

Parking

The hotel shared its parking lot with other businesses nearby, accessible through a gate around the corner from the hotel’s entrance.

While not large, it appeared secure. Parking here was free for in-house guests.

Fitness Center

The hotel’s fitness center was on the third floor, and it required a key card for access.

Available for guest use around the clock, the gym had bottled water, mats, and towels available near the entrance.

A handful of cardio machines sat near the windows, overlooking the street below.

Along the other wall, an adjustable weight bench sat near a mirrored wall and a rack of free weights. A multifunctional machine sat in the corner. Between them? A dripping ceiling with a bucket on the floor to catch the water.

Free Laundry

The hotel’s standout amenity was free laundry for guests. Rather than paying an arm and a leg after leaving a laundry bag in the hallway — like at most hotels offering laundry services — here, you could do laundry on your own at no cost.

There were 2 washing machines and 2 dryers, and the washing machines had soap built in. To use them, you just had to start them and come back later. Signs on the wall explained how to use them.

Baskets were available as well.

A rack to hold your clothes was available while using the steam press. Alternatively, a pair of chairs let you sit down while waiting for your laundry.

Meeting Room

Off the back of the lobby, near the door to the outdoor patio, was a small meeting room that could hold 8 to 10 people comfortably around its conference table. There also was a screen for presentations during meetings.

Food and Beverage

Breakfast

The main option for food and beverage at the hotel was the breakfast restaurant, operating from 6:30 to 10 a.m. on weekdays and 6:30 to 11 a.m. on weekends. A sign at the restaurant’s entrance outlined not just the operating hours but also the busy times and even the policy permitting UrCove bathrobes (and presumably slippers) at breakfast.

Upon our arrival at the restaurant, an employee scanned our key cards each morning, receiving confirmation that we were currently staying at the hotel (and also displaying our room number). This was something I’d never seen before.

The restaurant had a dozen wooden tables with 4 chairs each. When the hotel is at capacity, the amount of seating will create lengthy lines, without a doubt.

On our first morning, we were absolutely surprised by the buffet — in a good way. We had expected the lackluster offerings of a Hampton Inn or Hyatt Place near an airport in the U.S. Instead, we found a hot food bar and made-to-order egg station. Dishes were mostly Chinese fare, such as noodles and steamed vegetables.

An island in the buffet offered salad ingredients and numerous pastries.

Along the wall, we found several types of cereals, plus fixings to add to yogurt, such as nuts, seeds, and granola.

The juices were a low point, unfortunately. First, the carafe labeled “Sprite” wasn’t Sprite. Second, the juices were the worst type of artificial juice, faintly hitting at a flavor of orange or apple juice but consisting mostly of multisyllabic chemical ingredients. They were bad; 1 sip was enough.

The biggest surprise may have been the espresso machine, and the hotel had several milk options, including soy, to make lattes, espressos, and whatever else you might like. Options for a heavy, hearty breakfast and also something light were available on this rather impressive buffet for a Category 1 hotel costing $50 per night.

Free Snacks

At the far end of the lobby, heading toward the restaurant and the elevators, a kitchen-esque setup offered snacks around the clock. Free items included juice, nuts, fruits, miniature pastries, water, tea, and coffee. Beer was available for purchase, as well.

Coffee Bar

Immediately next to the reception desk, a coffee bar served drinks and light bites. We honestly struggled to understand the hours of this shop and never saw anyone purchase or make a drink here during our stay. That said, it had all of the supplies and equipment needed to whip up a latte.

Service

Service started OK and then floundered during our stay. Service started with a big smile on arrival and then became confusing, with us wondering why the first employee hadn’t at least said “hello” when we later realized she could speak English.

The hotel manager was fantastic, and we liked her a lot during the check-in process. Additionally, after we got settled in our room, the tablet (which we didn’t realize could be used as a phone) rang. It was the manager, saying that an employee had come to our door and saw the “Do Not Disturb” sign. She wanted to know if the employee could knock on our door to present a welcome gift.

After letting in the friendly employee, we used hand gestures to overcome the language barrier, indicating that she could leave the welcome gift on the table in the sitting area and that we really appreciated the gift. We received 2 types of traditional Chinese sweets and 5 pieces of fruit.

Staff at the restaurant were efficient, but I wouldn’t call them friendly. They checked us in and cleared our dishes, but they made no effort to communicate with us across the language barrier. We didn’t even get a “hello” or a smile in reaction to our attempt at “ni hao” to greet them.

We made a few additional visits to the front desk during our visit, assuming staff there would speak some degree of English. We wanted help finding the time for a train and asked at another time how far in advance we should leave for the airport. Both times, we simply spoke into the employees’ phones and watched as they read the translation. Then they performed the same in reverse.

Did they help us accomplish what we needed? Yes. Was it efficient? No. It was also surprising to see a hotel under Hyatt‘s umbrella — and with multiple, young employees at the desk — that went through large parts of the day without anyone at the hotel who could speak English or any of the other 4 languages my wife and I can communicate in. I guess that’s the byproduct of the hotel’s focus on domestic travelers. We were the only foreigners at the hotel during our stay, after all.

Because of this, it’s hard to give a positive score for service. Everything was more difficult and slower than we’d expected it to be since we never again saw the manager or sole other employee who spoke English.

Bottom Line:

Don’t expect staff here to be able to speak English. Come prepared with a good translator app on your phone if you don’t speak Chinese.

Final Thoughts

When it was time to check out, we came ready with a message in Chinese on our phones. We said we were checking out and needed help getting a taxi to the airport. Given that it was 6 a.m., the question for the employee was whether we would find a taxi on the street. If not, could he please call for one?

With a nod of agreement, he went to work on his phone, calling for a taxi from DiDi, the Chinese equivalent of Lyft or Uber. A robotic voice from the translator app pronounced the employee’s goodbye message, wishing us a safe trip and telling us what car to look for.

We didn’t expect much, given the price of the hotel, yet the UrCove Chengdu Wenshu Monastery Taikoo Li exceeded our expectations in both the room and the breakfast offerings. It had a good location, fantastic price, and gave us a comfortable stay. Service was an exercise in patience, though, given that nearly none of the employees spoke English.

Though I have several complaints about our stay, I would actually stay here again on a return visit. I know what to expect, and it’s hard to beat a combination of a cheap stay plus a fantastic breakfast.