Mountain Villa

First opportunity to review this hotel .With a tour so unable to ascertain value for money .Looked very grand from outside .Rooms were average .Bathroom clean .Being so close to the Imperial Mountain villas was a real plus point .However the breakfast was a real let down.Served in a giant size room ,every one was instructed to arrive at the same time so hence a "free for all"..A vast array of food but little to attract the visitor from the West .All I found that appealed to me was a boiled egg!!!.The bread had to be toasted to make it edible .There was a rumour that someone would make an omelette but the omelette man never showed up .Coffee was hard to come by and no other drink of any kind on offer .Such a shame .Chengde is a beautiful place but there was a somewhat complacent approach to the visitor ,the visitor needs to feel welcome and that an effort has been made .

This was the only hotel during a 3 week trip where I was unwilling to walk barefoot around the room! Like most hotels in China the air conditioning is centrally controlled and the beds are quite hard (which I prefer but may not be to everyone's taste). Breakfast was average but adequate. The location is fine for the Imperial Mountain Villas.

Our second chinese hotel, after Beijing and whilst it was slightly better, it was not good enough to warrant a 4* rating. Negatives were: we were put in a smoking room, and apparently they could not move us; The hotel was tired and in need of some TLC/maintenance; The air conditioning did not work; This was the only hotel we stayed at in China where you were not given two bottles of free water; it did not have a bar; the breakfast was poor. On a positive note, it is very convenient to the summer palace. Also at night we turned left out of the hotel, and after a 5 minute walk hit shops, and then a further 5 minutes on a night market (although this was not brilliant, it was somewhere to walk). Also the bed was hard, as typical for China