Jinjiang Inn Taiyuan Liuxiang

After waiting 20 minutes to check in at reception. We were asked to put in a positive review for the joint to get a free upgrade to a 'better' room. which has me triggered , having worked in hotels myself for a while i didnt expect to be approached like that just to get a so called 'upgrade'. The rooms are run down , old , if you have fear of confined spaces avoid the corridor of if youre above 1.9m tall if would be terribly uncomfortable walking around the place. Staff are unaware of whats happening in the venue, as we asked 'why does our room have terrible fumes' the lady at reception told us that they were painting levels 4 & 5 and the fumes mustve spread to the 8th floor. With this in mind, WHY WOULD ANYONE SELL A ROOM THAT COULD BE A POTENTIAL HEALTH HAZARD? yes, i get its a relative cheap place to stay at but i would have honestly preffered spending my money on clothes and sleeping it rough outside compared to this place charging 300 yuan for a tragic room. When we called and asked if a room could cater for 5 people they instantly replied yes without any thought. My brother is currently sleeping on the floor , myself on the couch and the other 3 in 2 beds. This place only cares about money that comes in as you have to pay upfront. I'm surprised this place hasnt been closed already. Most of the excellent reviews of this place are most likely people who wanted the free upgrade , look for a better joint in the area to stay in.

I stayed one night on 26 May 2015. The facilities is ok with a reasonable price. The room I stayed is a king size bed, big, clean, quiet and comfortable. The toilet is clean too. The location is good: a department store within 2 minutes walk, lots of shops and restaurants near by. Minus point: the choices for breakfast is not much with fair quality. Friendly reminder: if a person has a high standard requirement of the toilet paper, it is recommended to bring his/her favourite brand toilet paper. It is very convenient to catch up a taxi.

This hotel is fine, clean , good size bedrooms and nice bathroom, and located on one of the main shopping streets in Taiyuan and normally I would rate it at about 3-4 stars , but the experience of staying in Taiyuan was not the best. We only stayed in Taiyuan for the one night ,we had been to Pingyao and were flying on from Taiyuan airport. Taiyuan railway station was full of Taxi touts trying to rip us off to get to this hotel (make sure you have the address in Chinese) and the hotel tried to rip us off when leaving . There is no English spoken and very few western faces around Taiyuan , not usually a problem for seasoned travellers ,but obviously we are deemed easy prey in this city. The hotel took a 200 RMB deposit , not unusual for Chinese hotels , but next day didn't want to give it back with no explanation as to why. We stood our ground at reception until a nice Chinese person who could speak some English helped us out. The hotel had charged us again for the room after we had already paid through Expedia . We got the money back eventually (a loud Englishman making a commotion at the reception desk makes quite a scene), no apology was given , they wouldn't even look me in the eye when dealing with my complaint . Be very wary if you stay here .