Hangzhou Hotel

I came here for a meal with colleagues following a visit to West Lake. The view over the city was excellent and looked beautiful in the sunset. The restaurant is a self-service buffet - I'm not normally a fan of buffet restaurants but this was much better than most, with food tasting fresh and frequently changed. Some interesting dishes for Westerners to try like braised fish head. Overall it was good, nothing exceptional but certainly not terrible.

We stayed here for a couple of nights and were comfortable enough. The rooms were clean and well resourced. The staff were curt but efficient. If you're from out of town though, it's quite the walk to West Lake and Hefang St, so pack your comfy shoes.

We stayed at the Hotel for 3 days. The hotel is in close proximity to shopping centres and our room offered a good view of Wulun Square (with music fountain show at 1930). The lobby is on the 8th floor and is a throw-back to the 80s, but not is a good way. Don’t expect glitz and a modern looking reception area. The front desk staff were not very friendly. The rooms are slightly tired and carpets dirty. Internet is also very slow. Although fairly good size, the bathroom is poorly designed with no where to hang towels. There was also a large crack in the sink. The wall temperature control was for show only as the room temperature remained the same whether the thermostat was set at 18 or 25. Maid service was relatively poor. They did not wash or change the cups that we used. When we left a note (in English and Chinese) asking them to change the dirty cups, pillow cases, etc, nothing was done. When we phoned the front desk, however, they did respond quickly. Breakfast is served on the 32nd floor revolving restaurant. Don’t get too excited. The resolving restaurant does not resolve but still offers a great view of the city. To get to the restaurant, you will need to take ‘outside’ elevators that offer ‘panoramic view’. There are only two of these elevators which house no more than 10 people in each. Expect long wait to and from the restaurant during busy hours in the morning. For Chinese breakfast, one can judge the food quality based on the congee and their congee was as diluted as it could be. They did attempt to change the food on a daily basis. Overall, the food was decent. There must be something better in Hangzhou.