SHAN HU

I wasn't really impressed with this hotel. For the first half of our stay our hotel room had a very strong mildew smell. About halfway into our four night stay we saw some guys working on something in the hall ceiling in front of our room and the mildew smell temporarily disappeared, revealing a different funky smell in the bathroom. But that was not a permanent fix and later the mildew smell came back. The room wasn't as clean as I would have preferred. The shower didn't drain very well and it was disgusting to see long, straight, black hairs floating around in the water, especially when you consider that I have brown, curly hair and my husband has very short hair. There were stains on the carpet that looked like nobody has ever tried to clean. There was also dirt or mildew on the walls. The wi-fi wasn't all that great, but I'm never sure if I can blame hotels or just China in general for that problem. The room did have a seating area but one of the chairs was too large for the space, making the room feel very crowded. One day housekeeping came awful early (8:30 a.m.) to clean the room. It was also one of the few hotels who don't provide any complimentary water. They did have water, noodle bowls, and interestingly enough, condoms in the room that you could purchase (they had price tags on them so you could see how much they would cost). The pros to the room included a great location and our room did have a really nice view overlooking the square.

The hotel is in an ideal location and very good value for money. The hotel staff speak very little English, some were quite rude and didn't even attempt to help whereas others used mobile phone apps to translate which worked really well. Unfortunately we weren't able to download these on English phones so trying to get the few unhelpful staff to use them was hard work. The hotel was very clean and the rooms were really comfortable but I wasn't happy with the phone chat line cards that were pushed under the door every night as it shows a lack of security letting people in to do it! The hotel is in a fantastic location and lots of eateries nearby although we ate at the restaurant next door every night as the food was really good and there was so much choice. I think the hotel is connected to the restaurant too.

We enjoyed our stay at the Shan Hu. The staff speak very little English but try their best to accommodate. Rooms are spacious, modern and western in style. We stayed twice in the space of a week and had a great view of the Main Square with large windows that opened in both rooms. Air con was good, once it got going! Only a few minor issues - no wi fi in rooms, only on ground floor which was often busy with nowhere to sit, and there was a slight damp smell in both rooms we stayed in, we think from the air con (the rooms themselves were clean). In one room we had a shower cubicle but only a wet room in the other, which flooded the floor but drained after a while. Not sure why cubicles aren't consistent in all rooms (we were on the same floor). For the money paid, it's a great hotel and its highly recommended.