HNA Downtown Xian

This is the 3rd hotel stayed in as part of a tour of China. This the first one that I look forward to moving on, thankfully only 2 nights here! Corridors and rooms smell heavily of stale cigarette smoke, rooms are in desperate need of renovation, in room fridge doesn’t work as WiFi modem plug blocks whole socket, bathroom is functional with cracked tiles, air con doesn’t work other than a fan blowing through hot air regardless of the setting you put in, bed - I’ve slept on softer planks of wood as a child camping and actually the worn carpet was genuinely softer and more comfortable. Location wise s very good as close to everything you would want but far enough away to not be in the immediate mix of things. Hotel is just really in need of a renovation, staff are very friendly and helpful. Looking forward to moving on!

The HNA was a good hotel in a great location and was very clean and friendly. Other than the usual: beds were hard and comfortable with buckwheat pillows, breakfast is available in the hotel, it was quiet, etc., I absolutely loved the lobby coffee shop. There was menu with English translation at the coffee shop, which they opened early at our request. I saw "duck excrement tea" on the menu and thought, that's what I've gotta try! A lady working there explained, through a translator, that there wasn't actually duck excrement in the tea. It was named that because it is so fragrant that people might try to steal it so they gave it a very bad name to prevent theft. That lady was highly amused at us foreigners and wanted to take our photo. We ended up having a conversation through a translation app. She found it amusing that we were having what looked like pizza with coffee and tea for breakfast - a combination of things locals would never have. There is a very unique breakfast right around the corner from the hotel - that's where the pizza-looking thing came from. Just exit the front doors and turn right. Go to the end of that block and turn right. About halfway down that block there is a very friendly husband and wife team running a little hole-in-the-wall that sell glass-noodle-filled dough pockets, donuts, and other stuff that is soooooo good! They take cash or AliPay, and I think breakfast cost the two of us less than $3. Wow.

Dated large-scale hotel aimed at business people. The hotel is fine to stay for one or two days. Xi'an is known for the Terracotta Army. The rooms are relatively large and neat, but the hotel is dated.