Regent Hotel

If you are keen to explore the Dali Old Town, this location if ideally situated just outside one of the main gates. It’s also quiet being just away from the crowds. The large lobby and the adjoining corridors are brimmed with wooden handicraft, as is the outside of the hotel and one might mistake this for a showroom. The rooms otherwise are carpeted, spacious and tastefully furnished. Housekeeping was good but wifi was really slow. It’s good value for the price.

We stayed at this hotel as part of a tour group travelling around Yunnan. The hotel is situated at the mouth of the Dali Old Town, facing Erhai Lake. Our first impressions were optimistic - the hotel lobby was adorned with statues and paintings, giving it a somewhat grand look. The room itself was alright, but there was visible wear and tear in some areas. The biggest disappointment however was the bathroom, which had visible stains in many areas. Although the housekeeping seemed in order, it appears that the rooms and bathroom are in need of extensive refurbishing. Our room overlooked a courtyard with plants of all sorts - it was a good view. There was a nightly in-house performance organised by the hotel showcasing minority ethnic cultures and customs. Considering that this was a free performance whose talents were drawn from the hotel staff themselves, it was actually quite alright. For those more inclined to explore the area, it is a short walk from the hotel's premises to some eateries and shops in the outskirts of the Old Town. The breakfast is primarily Chinese-based, with some continental selections such as cereals and juices. Quality is only above average. Dinner at the Chinese restaurant however was poor. Many of the facilities the hotel advertises in its signboards and marketing materials (which were played before the start of the nightly performance) were also not in operation. Overall, a mediocre hotel that serves as a good jumping point for exploring the area, but certainly not worthy of the 5-star accolade given by the authorities. 我们跟旅游团住一晚在这家酒店。酒店位于大理古城的前面，面向洱海。我们首先的印象积极 - 大堂装饰着雕像和绘画，看起来很宏伟。 我们的房间没有什么大问题，但显示着不同磨损。最大的失望可说是具有明显污渍的浴室。虽然家政蛮不错，房间与浴室需要进行大规模的刷新。我们房间面对包括各种植物的庭院，给我们一个好的景色。 酒店每晚举办一场表演，展示了少数民族的文化和习俗。因为这个表演是免费的，也用本店的工作人员扮演演员，它居然还说是OK的。多兴趣参观周边的顾客不用走远到古镇的镇郊和它的餐管和商店。 早餐大部分是中式，但也有一点欧陆式的餐点，像谷物和果汁。烹饪水平仅仅好而已。中餐厅的晚餐也很差, 而酒店宣扬的各种设施没有开门. 总结，这是一个中路酒店，可用来探索古镇，但不适合政府给予的5星级荣誉。

My wife and I enjoyed a great 24 day China Encounters private tour with Wendy Wu which included a classic week in beautiful Yunnan Province. The hotel that we were scheduled to stay in Dali was changed at the last minute and we ended up in the Regent Hotel instead. “This is the first 5 Star Hotel in Dali” the tour guide proudly informed us and so we were excited. Judging by the absolutely magnificent foyer in this hotel with very lavish and expensive Chinese Jade and elaborate wood carved seats and huge Chinese artefacts throughout, our first impressions suggested that we were set to stay in something really special. Enter our room which I have to say was quite a nice room with a comfortable king bed, writing desk and other facilities and a very clean, modern bathroom including a shower and a plunge bath. However, once you get over the initial gloss, the services left a lot to be desired. The hotel proudly boasts that it has both a western and a Chinese restaurant where guests can choose where they wish to have dinner. We decided it would be nice to try their western restaurant only to be told by the reception staff that the western restaurant is closed, presumably because there may not have been many westerners staying in the hotel. So OK, we decided we would go to their Chinese Restaurant instead. This was a very frustrating and challenging experience. We were reassured by the management that there would be an English menu with pictures made available to us to select our dishes. We were given a menu with only Chinese writing which we could not understand and the staff could not understand us either. We would have thought that the staff would have found someone in the hotel who could speak English; however the staff seemed very indifferent to us preferring to give their greater attention to the Chinese guests frequenting the restaurant at the time. That we ended up having quite a nice meal of pork and beef was a miracle in itself. The meal was very well cooked and tasted great. However, that we felt so uncomfortable by the experience was most unfortunate indeed. Being given small paper cups to drink our Pepsi instead of drinking glasses was another sad reflection on the service provided. The hotel also boasted that a lobby bar was open where guests could obtain a drink. However during our stay this too was not available. Our breakfasts on both days were served in the Western Restaurant ironically. We felt that the range of western food available could have and should have been better for a so called 5 star hotel. The hotel has such great potential. However until it improves its services the 5 star rating it claims is grossly over-rated.