We stayed at the Royal Victoria Hotel and Motai 168 when we were in Xiamen in Apr 2012, though they have a 5-star and 3-star hotel rating respectively, the latter gave us a good impression as a conveniently-located (very near Xiamen train station, 2 new and modern shopping malls, and 2 megamarts), newly-renovated, modern hotel. Thus, we gave Motai 168 Jie Fang Bei (解放碑）(JFB) a shot in Oct 2014, thinking its standard should be similar, if not the same.
Oh dear! Algae steps leading to the first storey entrance greeted us when we arrived in a cab from the airport and the entrance made it look like an abandoned building. We did not realize the main entrance which was more inviting was located on the 9th storey which was up on the hill where the proper vehicular access was to be found too.
The good points of Motai 168 Jiefangbei are : 1) near 2 tube stations, namely Xiao Shi Zi 小什子and Lin Jiang Men 临江门, 2) next to Hong Ya Dong 洪崖洞 , 3) near Chao Tian Men Pier 朝天门码头 where one takes the Three Gorges Cruise or Yangtze River Cruise (about 5-min cab-ride away, 10-15-min, if there is a traffic jam) , 4) near Jie Fang Bei 解放碑 where shopping malls, branded boutiques and mid-price range shops filled the square (10-15 min walk) 5) near famous food street 好吃街 (15-min walk away), 6) near Carrefour supermarket (3-min walk away) and 7) many restaurants and eateries in close proximity. The STRONGEST selling point of Motai 168, JFB is its convenient location.
The negative points now:- we booked a family room (which was higher in room rate) as Agoda charged the same price for a standard twin room, with or without windows, so we thought if we were to pay 25% more for our family room, we would be guaranteed, at least, a room with good river view, new and spacious. Oh my God! The skirting along the corridor leading to our family room (room number 8857) was with chipped tiles, no water from the sink tap in our family room's bathroom, after a few tries, the tap fell off, only the bathroom had a good view of the Jia Ling river 嘉陵江 while the family room's two windows had a slanted view of the river and retaining wall view respectively. There was a hole in the bedsheet too. (Note that the fabric of the sofa at the reception was tearing apart too, the sponge could be seen). Once we were outside of our room door, one could peek into a public balcony which had been locked up with a chain. It was the most filthy balcony we have seen in our lives! Had other parts of the hotel floor not been renovated which we only found out that they had been later, the entire floor would have looked creepy!
We did not like the room and decided to ask for a downgrade though we have paid for a more expensive family room. The front desk staff was nice enough to allow us to see 8803 and 8809 before we decided on 8809 ( the lady staff who checked us in earlier was NOT as friendly). The 8801 to 8810 stretch was much newer and definitely more pleasant to look at. Even the skirting of the corridor leading to the rooms was newly tiled with steel trimmings. Additionally, the room doors were interspersed with the golden-framed recessed wall with vases of flowers on the tables. A garden effect was also created with the plants in the glass "houses" which injected much-needed greenery in this old building.
Now the room 8809: it boasted a fantastic unblocked view of Jia Ling River through its full glass window. However, the window was so dirty that it looked as if it had not been cleaned for a decade. The window handle was no where to be found as it had been broken. The night view from 8809 was spectacular, we could see the illuminated Chongqing Theatre, the Science Centre, the brightly-lit-up ferries that offered night river cruises and also buildings with dotted lights that formed the shape of a yacht on our right. However, the light in the bathroom was dim for its size and there was no light above the shower cubicle which made us feel uneasy when showering in the night, especially when the building looked old. We were not used to such a dimly-lit bathroom. We did not need fanciful downlights, just a simple fluorescent lamp above the shower cubicle was good enough. It is perhaps due to the over zealous energy conservation campaign in China that has resulted in such poor lighting system as the apartment block sharing the same building as Motai 168 had bubble lifts without lights at night (unsure if both bubble lifts had faulty lights at the as time that night) . We saw it from across the road while taking a stroll along the river at night and we were shocked, the dark lift opened up on an upper floor, light from the high floor lobby streamed into the dark bubble lift and the resident stepped out of the lift. This is exactly how haunted movies are being filmed <dropped-jaw expression>.
Moreover, the card-key door lock system was faulty, we kept having to return to the reception to "reprogramme" our cards. We found it extremely inconvenient especially after a full day's tour, returned to the hotel at 10pm, all exhausted and we had to walk down, up and down again (recep on 9th sty and hotel room on 8th sty) before we could get into our room.
Motai 168 JFB cannot fulfil our most basic need of a clean and bright environment. We left the second night after one night's stay even though we paid for three nights. It has its strength, but for us, we will not return to this hotel again as its weakness outweigh its strength, at least for us.
But we will not give up on Motai 168 chain as our subsequent trip to Wuhan and Yichang, and our earlier trips to other parts of China confirmed that Chongqing is a city that is not only cluttered due to the absence of green "lungs", its building maintenance programme urgently needs attention (most buildings are not painted, most buildings with glass claddings are not cleaned) as many other parts of China have much cleaner buildings and environment in general. Wuhan has vehicles washing the public roads with water and the entire road is wet after the washing whereas in Singapore, we have only seen vehicles washing the sides of the road, near the pavement.
Not only will we give Motai 168 JFB Chongqing a miss, we may also give Chongqing a miss in our future trips, only if we have no choice and have to use Chongqing as a city to branch into other parts of China or to see the completed new CBD, 江北嘴 (Jiang Bei Zui) or to taste the delicious food served at 婆子妈@观音桥步行街 (Pozima Restaurant at Guanyin Qiao Shopping Street) will we return. Chongqing is a city that is gorgeous at night with its successful lightings and its mountainous terrain but it is far from nice in the day. Note that one to-be-completed office tower@江北嘴CBD has "planted" Singapore's Gardens by the Bay's supertrees at its compound and it was only@江北嘴that we saw a park. Once the new vehicular/tube/pedestrian double-decker bridge right next to Motai 168 JFB is opened (residents said it would open end 2014), then guests from Motai 168 JFB can take a 20-min walk (our estimation) to reach Chongqing Theatre and Science Centre and 江北嘴CBD Park (25-30min walk). The tube station at 江北嘴Jiang Bei Zui is NOT in operation yet，once in use, just catch the tube and no need to walk. Cab ride will even be quicker, that is if you can find one. While we were there, the road right outside Motai 168 has a perpetual jam and we tried getting a cab from JFB area to Chao Tian Men Pier for 15 mins and we failed. Happy finding one when the new double-deck bridge is in operation, who knows, the traffic condition may improve then.
AI Summary
