Longchamp Garden Hotel Changsha

Stayed in the largest of the rooms which had great views... well, it had views of Changsha... if you can call that great. Otherwise it was quite clean and spacious. One great annoyance was an evening call to ask for shoe polishing and ice. I was transfered between four members of staff, none of who could speak even passable English. My shoes were taken but not returned, meaning I had to check-out in my slippers until they were magically found. Come on, international city, international hotel has to mean good English skills.

The hotel is modern and comfortable. Very large and comfortable beds in spacious rooms. I got the impression that the hotel was a government owned hotel - it had none of the finesse you expect and experience at a hotel run by one of the big hotel groups. The breakfast was dreadful.

For a local hotel, this was high quality, especially the concierge desk. It's not just one person; they're clearly well trained, because three different guys helped us plenty at different times. One guy gave us great advice about how best to get to Mt. Hengshan (taxi to high-speed train station, then 30 min comfortable, non stop ride at 300km per hour) and even biked to station to source and deliver us the tickets with only 30 CNY service fee. The breakfast buffet is one of the best I've ever had at a local Chinese hotel, lots of different choices and well-presented. Problem is location-- it's about 30 min from the city center/20 min from train station and 30-40 min from airport, in a busy mixed commercial/residential urban area. So not convenient nor charming/quiet.