Guang Sheng International Hotel

Hotel was a bit old but the price was good. The hotel was still clean and tidy. Very friendly and professional hotel staff. Close to Lo Wu Border very convenient to and from HK. Also close to the LoWu underground rail. Convenient stores nearby.

Stayed here for one night before crossing the border into Hong Kong. Great location for that reason, but not a very nice stay otherwise. Everything just seemed kind of run down and a bit grimy. The a/c wasn’t working properly and the curtains didn’t keep out much of the ambient light, which made for a restless sleep. Quite a few calling cards were slid under the door which further contributed to the overall uneasy vibe of the place. Finally, there was a pretty funky smell throughout the lobby, but this may have had more to do with its physical location, as there was also a strong sewage smell at certain points along the same street. I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you are really looking to save on cost.

Although I liked this hotel, it has a few oddities. First, the front desk would not give my roommate and I a second room key, even though we were going out separately (and they seemed to enjoy their ability to refuse us a bit more than necessary). I assumed they were worried we'd waste electricity by leaving one card in the electricity slot, but when we returned to the room we found that they'd put a special placeholder card in there for us, so that wasn't it. Perhaps it was a security issue since the elevator requires a keycard to be swiped to access each floor, but we tagged along on multiple elevator rides with other people and saw numerous others do the same. When I explained that I was going to bed early and my roommate would be coming back late, they held firm to their no-second-key policy, offering onstead to open the room for her whenever she arrived. I have several other reasons for wanting two keys, all of which I presented, every one of which was met with steadfast denial. I never did get an explanation, but the entire thing was a little inconvenient and very weird. When they did provide service, on the other hand - such as when we requested more toilet paper and another pillow - it was completed with unnerving efficiency (as in, the task was finished before we ourselves had completed our journey from the lobby to the elevator). As for the room, it was quite nice, with good decor and very comfortable beds. The shower wouldn't drain much but on the plus side, the shower's caulking held up and it didn't flood the bathroom floor. The lights in the room were unfortunately quite dim, primarily mood lighting rather than a useful amount of illumination, leaving the bathroom with so little light I would not have been able to put in contact lenses or apply makeup if I'd been so inclined. Also, their reusable plastic sandals came sealed in plastic bags labeled "DISINFECTED," which was nice. However, the tissue stuck to the bottom of the disinfected sandal kind of cancelled out the desired effect. Despite its quirks it was a pretty good hotel, and extremely close to the border. I would stay there again.