The Shenzhen Flora hotel is not a good place to stay if you cannot speak and read Chinese well. I had been studying Chinese for about 3 months, solidly, and thought my skills would be sufficient, but they weren't! The staff there do not speak English, well accept for the night manager who spoke a few words, so the whole communication process was somewhat difficult. An example was while booking in, I was handed a credit card receipt for over 2500RMB. My bill would only have been about 1200, so naturally I was concerned that I had been charged the wrong rate. Eventually I figured out that it was a deposit!
I stayed in one of the middle ranging rooms, it was big, but the facilities were poor, or at least compred to what one expects of a 3 star hotel in the west. Everything was in a state of disrepair, there was damp on the ceiling and the wardrope smelt damp too. The shower was a joke and the water wouldn't stay in the bath.
They provide you with a thermos of hot water, but by the morning it is cold and doesn't make for a decent cup of anything. There are instructions in the guest information folder in English and Chinese, with advice to ring a certain number if one wants a service, but there is little point as the person answering the phone won't speak English.
Another problem I had was the mini-bar. There were items missing that I hadn't consumed, in fact they were never there, and explaining that to the receptionist was extermely difficult.
There is a restaurant in the building. I ate there once, and again nothing was in English, so it was somewhat of a hit or miss affair.
The hotel doesn't cash travellers cheques- and a word of advice to any Aussies- do not take Australian Dollars as travellers cheques, they are virtually impossible to change.
The hotel is advertised as being 8Km from the train station, where civilisation is, however that 8Km can cost between 27 and 40 RMB in a taxi because the hotel is at the very north end of Lohu and not easy to get to and from.
There are no facilities near the hotel- nothing, no restaurants, no shops, nothing to do! Again, this meant taxi rides to civilisation for anything. The hotel does have a safety deposit box for guests, I only knew this as it was in the guest guide and I was able to show this to the staff.
I must admit that the staff were friendly, and I managed to communicate in broken Chinese, by the use of a phrase book, and pointing and gesturing. Probably, you pay for what you get, and 280RMB/night isn't bad, but really, this is no place for non-Chinese speaking people and those on a budget. The amount of money you spend on taxis (and Shenzhen taxi drivers are miserable and ignorant people), maybe 100RMB a day, would be better spent on a hotel nearer the centre of town where the staff speak English and there are facilities.
I wouldn't go there again!
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