hidinginplainsight
August 7, 2024
We had to scramble to Jinzhou due to medical emergency from overseas. We happened to book this hotel in a great hurry and it was truly the only thing that helped us preserve our sanity at a very fraught time.
It was also our first time using trip.com as I could not find much options in Jinzhou on ***********, my long time app of choice. I was worried about how things would turn out since I didn't know if I could trust trip.com or fully research my options as we had to rush to pack as well. As it turned out, I'm 100% sure that no other hotel in 4th tier Jinzhou city could have given us the experience, comfort and ambience that Manxin Hotel did. I don't say that lightly as a seasoned international traveller who's stayed at many types of hotels/guesthouses/motels over the years, it takes *a lot* to impress us enough to earn my praise and endorsement in a review.
Manxin Hotel felt like a small boutique hotel feel with 3 floors of rooms. It was only opened in Jan 2024, so it really feels nice and new with a high ceiling foyer /lounge area. The rooms are huge with huge floor to ceiling windows. Although it's next to a train station, the triple glazed windows amazingly cut out most of the noise. The beds were very comfortable, with great toiletries, great Laifun hairdryer and free drinks replenished daily. Even the tea bags they provided were of great quality. We stayed in the hotel for 2 weeks so we were very happy to be able to use the complimentary washing machine service which saved me the hassle of having to hand wash my clothes daily in my room! There were some drainage issues in the shower but the hotel staff did try to sort out the problem. There's also a spacious gym available for those who are fitness fanatics. The hotel breakfast had great variety with quality coffee (not easy to find good coffee in China).
They even had a singer in the foyer 3 nights a week. Though I usually love listening to live music, the singers were students who were not quite able to deliver a performance befitting the old world charm and ambience of the hotel foyer.
Any hotel can have the best of facilities but often fall short on the service front. Since we were staying there for 2 weeks, we often had to deal with the hotel staff on a daily basis. We found them to be very competent, sincere, friendly, understanding and helpful for the most part, willing to do all that they could to assist us during our time of considerable distress and strain due to our family emergency. Even the housekeeping staff and the lady clearing plates in the breakfast area were warm and helpful!
As foreigners , we would sometimes need help with paperwork, scanning, photocopying, and other assistantance communicating with the outside world to make arrangements for international medical evacuation, WeChat/Alipay tutorials etc. We will always be grateful to the staff for all their efforts to assist in our time of need. In particular, we would like to thank Sales manager XY Yang and duty manager Hong for their tireless assistance and consideration.
If we were to go to Jinzhou again, Manxin hotel would absolutely be our only choice.
