Rezen Dong Hotel Chengdu Tianfu Square

My choice for this hotel was primarily the location - metro, restaurants, shopping malls, museums - all within walking distance. The room was spacious; beds very comfortable and room service was very good. However, the breakfast was catered more for the Chinese guests. Lots of Szechuan peppers in the food which may be hard to stomach so early in the morning. Service at front desk and restaurant was appalling.

The 164 room four star Western Royal Palace Hotel has an ideal central location: five minutes walk to the left of the street entrance is Tianfu Square with its gigantic statue of Mao Tse Tung and its tall buildings bathed at night in bright, ever-changing neon lights. Five minutes to the right of the main entrance lies Renmin Park, an ideal place to observe the laid-back locals performing Tai-Chi, drinking tea over a game of mahjong in a tea house or simply walking with their children and/or grandchildren. The rooms are comfortable and have free Wi-Fi access. Ask for a room with a bath tub – they are unusually deep, and great to relax in. Kettles and tea bags are provided although if you prefer coffee you would be well advised to bring a jar of your favourite brand to China with you. Breakfast is served on the 5th floor from 7.00am to 10.00am, and a breakfast chef will fix eggs just the way you like them. Two great places to explore in the city are the Wenshu Yuan Buddhist temple complex and its surrounding old streets, and Baihuatan Park with its boating lake. Both places feature great tea houses where you can wile away the hours sipping superb-quality teas and people watching.

We stayed here for only 1 night (thank goodness!) in the middle of a Wendy Wu Tour of China. What can I say that hasn't been said?! For a start I had trouble leaving a review as it's on TA as 'Talace' but everything that I've seen elsewhere (including in the hotel) says 'Palace'? Well either way...a Palace it is not!!! Our room was not very clean, the bathroom was very dubious and the carpet was disgustingly stained and sticky! We decided not to ask to change rooms as others in our party were saying their rooms were the same. Also some of the occupants of other rooms on our floor (opposite us) looked very very dubious and unfriendly and as we had fellow travellers in the rooms on either side we decided that there was safety in numbers and we'd stay put!! The corridors were dark dingy and not for loitering in, as was the entrance lobby. The breakfast room reminded me of the little staff cafeterias tucked away in the basement of large hotels in England! The food was just awful, we didn't bother attempting to eat it as up til then we had kept really well and healthy!!!. The tour guide actually told us not to expect much! In our whole tour this hotel would be my only negative complaint of Wendy Wu. I can only think they use it because of it's location (you have several hours free in Xian and it is well located near the square, museum, shops etc, but even that is not reason enough to stay there!). There must be other nice hotels that are well located in Chengdu....PLEASE book one of those not the 'Palace'! Yuck!