Changchun Paradise Hotel

This hotel was pre-arranged by my partner, and we are totally unprepared about what was expected. The first thing was that it does not take foreign credit card, which is an extreme inconvenience. Next, the air-conditioning is barely working and very noisy. They charge for extra mineral water. Lastly, the staff is quite rude in the typical Chinese style. I think we as customers really don't need all of the above after a long arduous journey.

So, this hotel hovers somewhere between three and four stars, but as it definitely wasn't four in my eyes, three it gets. I arrived late at night and the night clerk spoke very little English, but check-in was no problem. My room was on the fourth floor and the door did not close properly; it seemed the door had swollen and no longer could fit in the frame. The room was very warm, not stuffy but not pleasant either. I don't believe the hotel has A/C, rather just a fan system which was not sufficient in the summer heat. The room was relatively spacious with two couches / table in the room .. however, the couches looked a little grimy and I definitely wouldn't want to be sitting on them without pants on! Bed was comfortable, WiFi was OK once I managed to extract the password from the front desk. Shower pressure was good and plenty of amenities are provided in the bathroom. A small niggle, there are multiple bottles of mineral water in the room. The ones in the bathroom are free, the ones in the room are not. It is not obviously clear which ones are free; I had just grabbed one to alleviate the effect of the hot room .. oops, this wasn't free! Breakfast on the second floor was reasonable with a good selection though everything was a little too spread out. I liked the booths with a view of the street below. Pricewise, this isn't a bad choice, but I wouldn't rush back here again.

Not bad, not great, little over priced, but converting to home currency puts this place into perspective as a diamond in the otherwise quite rough accommodation available <4* in Changchun. If you're tired from traipsing around the villages hereabouts, or fresh from the eastern border, this is a good bet.