GGuest UserA beautiful five-star hotel with exceptional rooms, but details to improve
Overall, a beautiful hotel with impressive facilities, wonderful views, excellent food, a great location for exploring Yangshuo and exceptionally clean rooms. However, some aspects of maintenance, hygiene and service fall short of what we would expect at this price point.
ROOMS, FACILITIES AND CLEANLINESS
The hotel has beautiful architecture and a lovely atmosphere. Our room was spacious, bright, tastefully decorated, extremely comfortable and offered wonderful views. Having stayed in numerous hotels throughout China, we can confidently say that the room was among the cleanest we encountered: truly outstanding housekeeping.
Unfortunately, the restaurant restroom was a striking exception. It was dirty and smelled unpleasant, in stark contrast to the impeccable room. A five-star hotel cannot afford this inconsistency: hygiene standards should be equally high throughout the property, particularly near dining areas.
FOOD AND MAINTENANCE
We really enjoyed the restaurant, which served good-quality, tasty food. Breakfast was also excellent, with a varied selection; the freshly prepared noodles were especially delicious.
A few room maintenance details need attention: the silicone seal around the bathroom door was coming loose, the showerhead water pressure was inadequate, and some water leaked from the shower hose’s threaded connection. These are minor defects that did not significantly affect our comfort, but a five-star property should maintain its fixtures with greater care.
SERVICE AND HOSPITALITY
Staff were polite, professional and helpful. Nevertheless, compared with other hotels we visited across China, the hospitality felt more reserved and less personalised, lacking some of the warmth, attentiveness and thoughtful touches we experienced elsewhere.
We were also surprised that guests had to do their own laundry. Several four-star hotels we stayed at provided a fully managed laundry service. Having that option here, even for an extra charge, would be reasonable given the hotel’s category and pricing.
A DISAPPOINTING HOTEL RECOMMENDATION
The hotel proactively recommended Impression Liu Sanjie and helped us book it; we had not originally requested this activity. Despite the show’s popularity and positive online reviews, we found it extremely disappointing. The lighting was impressive, but the singing was poor, the performances repetitive, and the excessive waving and exaggerated gestures made the production feel simplistic and childish. In our view, it lacked artistic depth, creativity and meaningful storytelling. It might suit families looking for straightforward entertainment, but not visitors expecting a sophisticated cultural performance. Tickets were exceptionally expensive for what was offered, and we left after approximately 30 minutes.
When proactively recommending such a costly activity, a hotel should offer an objective, specific description of the experience rather than relying on popularity or reputation, so guests can assess whether it matches their interests. We explained this to the staff. Although it took some discussion, they were ultimately receptive to our feedback and expressed willingness to consider it in future recommendations, which we appreciated.
OVERALL
Despite these criticisms, we genuinely enjoyed our stay. The beautiful facilities, fantastic room, exceptional room cleanliness, views, restaurant, breakfast and location are major strengths. With consistent hygiene in shared areas, closer maintenance checks, warmer hospitality, a managed laundry option and more informative activity recommendations, the hotel could better deliver the complete five-star experience its price promises.
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