Guilin Hongkong

Biggest selling points : 1. Direct drop-off point of Airport bus (20 RMB; 50 minutes) 2. About 5 to 7 minutes on foot to Guilin station (for train to Xingping/Yangshuo) and just a few bus stops away from Qintan long-distance bus station (for buses to Longsheng) 3. All rooms have huge windows with city view; this is one of the tallest buildings in the vicinity and so you get an unblocked view of the cityscape (highest floor is probably level 17 for Standard rooms) 4. Large and spacious lobby Low points : 1. Peeling wallpaper, chipped doors and stained carpets in the Standard room - all these flaws reflect poor maintenance of the hotel. Not sure about the conditions of the more expensive rooms though 2. Shower stall does not have a full glass door (more like half a panel only) or a curb and so water from the shower head spills over everywhere, right up to the toilet and wash basin area. 3. No complimentary bottled water/coffee/tea in room 4. Most of the Reception staff are aloof and unfriendly. Extremely difficult to get any travel information/guidance from them and apparently they do not care less in any case 5. TV signal does not work – impossible to watch anything on TV other than one Chinese cartoon channel 6. (Non-descript) Area around hotel does not hold much interest. Too far to walk to the lakes, shopping malls and pedestrian-only walking streets Not a great hotel choice for me other than its convenient location for regional transport purposes. There are better options nearer the city centre.

Due to a delayed stopover we had to stay one night in Guilin on short notice and chose the Hong Kong Hotel due to the proximity to the busses going to the rice terraces the next morning. We got a room with a double bed in the 11th floor and were quite satisfied. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom big enough. It's not a modern five star accommodation but it does the job. On the walls, the carpet and the decoration it's obvious that the hotel is already in use for a lot of years but at least in our room it somehow added a little charm. The view is quite good and there are a lot of food choices around. With a taxi it's a brief ride to the Elephant mountain or the lake area. We had no breakfast included so I cannot comment on that. Check-in was quick and efficient. Check-out was even easier because we could ask the cleaning lady already in advance to check the room and speed up the check-out procedure. All in all an acceptable option with an unbeatable advantage towards the bus connection.

The price was right, but an older, rundown hotel. I enjoyed it because I could get on a bus just outside the hotel for my ride to Longji Titian. With one exception, the staff wasn't too friendly, but the hotel is close (walking distance) from the south Train Station in Guilin.