Floral Suzhou Royal Garden Boutique Hotel

One of the key problem about this hotel is lack of maintenance, mold is growing around the hotel, shower is not fully function, air conditioning is not working correctly, bed is not comfortable. I am not a choosy person, but this is definitely one of the bottom of the list. However, the hotel located inside the beautiful tourism spot, and bar/ restaurant is within 3 min walk, public transport (metro, bus station) is within 300m radius, which make it a convenience place to stay.

This hotel is right in the middle of the heritage spot. Each day, probably 100,000 tourists walk past your room. It's fun, it's vibrant. The hotel is just a very short walk from exit #3 of the Shan Tang St subway station, just one stop south of the Railway Station. Make a U-turn when you pop out of the exit. The main road is GuangJi Road, turn left for south and from the bridge (where there should be thousands of tourists) you can see the hotel on the right bank of the river. We had a room facing the river. Boatloads of tourists will be snapping at you if you stand at the balcony. The night scene is even more fabulous with all the special lighting. Thankfully, the lights go off at 9pm and the hordes disappear. The hotel is very central. The bus stop outside has more than 10 routes to many places. But you need to know Chinese to read the route tables. The hotel is physically ok but for the faucet in the wash basin. It is too near the edge of the basin that it is impossible to wash your hands or face. Ours had no hot water although there were two incoming feeds. Warning to some: the bathroom/toilet has only glass walls and no lockable doors. The hotel staff is terrible!! They smoke in the lobby, sending the smell to all the rooms. The girl checking me out was eating her noodles at the same time. They can offer no help, not even where the buses go.

The location was amazing. Right on the canal. Room OK. Very little English spoken. A bit smelly and run down. But if you can accept this the experience is more than worth it. Took a boat trip from the door and saw real China. Very close to MTR (metro) about 1 minute walk. Really suitable for people travelling around China (as we were) and liked to experience different things. I mentioned Breakfast. They said 'No'! HaHa . Plenty of places to eat around (even a Star bucks) the sight at dusk is amazing. Definately worth the experience. Room and bathroom clean. Hari dryer in drawer. Limited toiletries. Take your own. No bar or anything really. Great for a couple of nights. We stayed 3 as was visitng our daughter.