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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: worst hotel you have stayed at in China?
Besides value for your money what has been your worst Chinese hotel experience?
Was it the food ?
was it the mould growing on the ceiling and walls of your room? ( later turned into yogurt at the desert bar)
maybe the broken Elevator and your room is on the 15 floor
please share
7 years 48 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
I guess thinking back, I have been involved with many horror stories related to hotel accommodation in China. But I do have one that sticks in my mind. It was back in 2003 and I arrived in Qiqihaer, Heilongjiang Province on a business trip.
Firstly, I was fleeced by a taxi driver on the way to the hotel. In those days, I had no Chinese language skills whatsoever and I arrived a hotel that I was told to go to. None of the staff even spoke a word of English. I had to call my translator who was in another city at the time and conduct checking in etc., by means of passing my cellphone backwards and forwards.
The room didn't look too bad at first sight. But there was the constant drone of a loudspeaker outside (the type that Chinese shop owners use to constantly blare out the same advertising slogan ad infinitum). It could be heard even with the windows shut.
There was a smell from the drains in the bathroom of stale human waste. I went in the bathroom and there was a mere trickle from the wash basin taps. I closed the bathroom door and the lock dropped such that the door wouldn't open again. It took several hours for someone to come and fix it.
The phone in the room kept ringing every few minutes with a girl speaking something that I couldn't understand at the time. With my knowledge of Chinese now, I would think it was a prostitute looking for business. I had to disconnect the phone to stop the calls.
I turned the TV on and there was an explosion from the back of it, a bit of smoke and a burning smell so I just pulled the plug and left it.
Finally I decided to turn in and go to bed. It was like a piece of wood with a thin blanket over it. The pillows were the typical Chinese variety at the time with something like rice inside instead of foam.
But despite all of that, I managed to survive the business and got home. I returned to the city a few months later to progress that project and was then caught up in the middle of the SARS epidemic.
It was 'bathroom with no water', rest of the water was heated outside, available in pots till 8am or so : 'brush your teeth and wash your two eyes' ... proceed ....
Can't remember the city name, but it was some 6 hours away from Harbin by bus (half way between Harbin and Huachuan, my final destination) ....Oct. 2009, freezing cold.
icnif77:
Currently, I live in the apartment no.4, on the 13th floor in the new, only partially occupied building with 26 floors. Of course, we have two elevators, but one is all the time broken and other one is used by people moving in and workers working in still un-occupied apartments.
In elevator, I must press button '14', so cage stops on 13th.
Last week, I was waiting outside of my apartment around 20' to get an elevator. Then, I walked down, but exit out of the building was nowhere to be found. It was dark like in the cave.
I called School's rep. and told him I'll be late for class and 'why'.
Then, I walked back up to the 4th floor, where I finally got an elevator to the 3rd floor, where is the exit out of the building ... for the normal people.
Class with 70 chaps in, next ....
I guess thinking back, I have been involved with many horror stories related to hotel accommodation in China. But I do have one that sticks in my mind. It was back in 2003 and I arrived in Qiqihaer, Heilongjiang Province on a business trip.
Firstly, I was fleeced by a taxi driver on the way to the hotel. In those days, I had no Chinese language skills whatsoever and I arrived a hotel that I was told to go to. None of the staff even spoke a word of English. I had to call my translator who was in another city at the time and conduct checking in etc., by means of passing my cellphone backwards and forwards.
The room didn't look too bad at first sight. But there was the constant drone of a loudspeaker outside (the type that Chinese shop owners use to constantly blare out the same advertising slogan ad infinitum). It could be heard even with the windows shut.
There was a smell from the drains in the bathroom of stale human waste. I went in the bathroom and there was a mere trickle from the wash basin taps. I closed the bathroom door and the lock dropped such that the door wouldn't open again. It took several hours for someone to come and fix it.
The phone in the room kept ringing every few minutes with a girl speaking something that I couldn't understand at the time. With my knowledge of Chinese now, I would think it was a prostitute looking for business. I had to disconnect the phone to stop the calls.
I turned the TV on and there was an explosion from the back of it, a bit of smoke and a burning smell so I just pulled the plug and left it.
Finally I decided to turn in and go to bed. It was like a piece of wood with a thin blanket over it. The pillows were the typical Chinese variety at the time with something like rice inside instead of foam.
But despite all of that, I managed to survive the business and got home. I returned to the city a few months later to progress that project and was then caught up in the middle of the SARS epidemic.
The one that never let me stay.
Cause it was run by the military in Sanya and they didn't accept foreigners.
was in shijiazhuang, hebei. some constructn work in othr rooms made it a noisy stay fr a day.
All 5 Star hotels in Sanya in Hainan. Rip off & Forced apon. I went to Sanya for a 2 day stay and I only wanted a cheap hotel but all the normal hotels told me foreigners can't stay at any hotels in Sanya, only 5 star hotels in Sanya, so I went to one and they wanted Y3000 for 2 nights. So I used the APP called "AIRbnb" and rented an apartment for Y400.. They said Sanya needs to keep these 5 star hotels in business in Sanya so they use us to help keep them alive.
I've seen my fair share of crappy hotels, to be honest I think they add to the charm in a strange sort of way.
You're backpacking around in some backwater area off the tourist track, you expect to see some rough hotels. It would be almost disappointing if you didn't.
Mostly though I stay in hotels that are almost identical, even the names are similar.
You check in, often after a lot of copying of passports etc for the PSB but are thankful you found a place that will accept foreigners after walking around near the train station trying different places. If you're sharing the room with a friend you usually won't be able to get another keycard, I never understand why.
You walk into the room and smell stale cigarette smoke so open the window to get some air in the room and get blasted with noise from the street. The bathroom has glass walls but usually everything works ok, you can get a hot shower and there are towels provided. There will be an electric kettle and some overpriced drinks and packs of noodles for if you forget to buy your own later.
On the bedside tables there are condoms for sale and you'll probably get a phone call from the hotel hooker at some point.
The beds are ok although the sheets might feel suspiciously like they haven't been changed after the previous guest. They often smell like cigarette smoke too.
That night, after you get back from wherever you were you go to bed drunk and if you're a light sleeper you'll be woken that night by other guests screaming to each other outside your door. Random people may also try your door handle to see if it will open.
Someone, maybe the hotel hooker might knock on your door during the night. At 5am the next morning you will be woken by cleaning staff screaming at each other outside your door.
You go out doing whatever it is you do that day and when you return there's a chance your keycard won't open the door and you need to go back to reception so they can reactivate it.
The rooms are nothing fancy but serve the purpose and are good value for the money you're paying IMO. It's always a good time.
diverdude1:
haha.... describes it 100% .... you ain't stayed at a hotel in Asia unless you have had the 'hooker call' ,, the 'trying the handle middle of the nite',, the 'reactivate the card process' ,, the 'condoms for sale by the bed',,, the 'whomever screaming outside in the hallway at random hours event'
trying to add to it,,, let me think,,, hmmm,,, maybe ,, small, jam-packed construction where u feel like u are gonna die in a hotel fire that nite....'Mansions' comes to mind ~
Shining_brow:
He forgot the carpets, that you really do want to be wearing the cheap, flimsy slippers on.
Inferred, but not stated, were the kids running up and down the hallways at times well past your bedtime, let alone theirs, making the standard 4-year old screaming noises.
The breakfast buffet that is more lethal than anything else, given the lack of heating used in the bain-marie's, and therefore everything has become lukewarm within half an hour (especially since no-one understands the concept of closing the fucking lids).
The disgusting variant of tea and coffee they have for you in the room - and in the breakfast, that you positively refuse to drink, no matter how much you need a cuppa! (or, regret if you do give in). And that's if they actually give you black tea (usually not in the breakfast).
The peeling wallpaper and damaged door and wall frames that have obviously been that way for years.. (usually including water damage from above).
The deodorising treatment which can make the smoke smell even worse!
The reception staff that don't speak much (any) English, refuse to listen to your Chinese, or can understand the Ctrip message you've got... and then laugh about you in front of you to the other Chinese guests.... This lasts for a good 30 mins or more, until someone from out the back (duty manager) comes out, and has good enough English to fix your reservation in 2 mins... making you wonder why the girl you were speaking to was so moronic as to not bother asking said manager to come out in the first place! (All of this, of course, after you've just walked in the door, and seen the reception shuffle, where they all find something else to do so they don't have to be the one left to have to talk to you!)
The arrogant, ignorant arseholes who smoke at reception - right next to the 'no smoking' sign.
And after checking in, getting your keycard, and heading up to your room, having to navigate your way through the maze of hallways to find your room.
And not that it's really a 'bad' thing, but the half-dozen hooker cards left under your door
The two-in-one shower gel/shampoo...
And the light streaming in from the window, cos they've put you right next to the neon sign. - and the blackout curtain is full of holes, and doesn't cover the entire window.
And the loud mahjong game gong on down the hall - with the door open - played by all the ayis... as their kids, grandkids, or whoever, is getting married, and of course they've got to do all that pre-marriage stuff... on the same floor as you! (normally, it's the bride's party you get placed near.. I don't think I've stayed near the groom's party, for some reason!) This obviously means lots of yelling, people going back and forth, and doors being slammed shut constantly.
Shining_brow:
Ooops - sorry, not sure how I could forget during that tirade, but.....
The threadbare towels you're given, that have holes you could fit your hand through....
Stiggs:
Haha, you guys have been there too.
One thing I have learnt when traveling is.. take your own coffee and tea bags.
I can deal with almost anything as long as I get a coffee in the morning, and Chinese hotels just don't provide where that's concerned.
Shining_brow:
I have a little cannister of tea, coffee and sugar - many collected from the better hotels I've stayed in. Need to find a good way to do milk...
I have seen some bad ones, but moved on elsewhere..
Funniest ones are the one with curtains and a false window painted behind them
Because there's no prostitute name cards on the floor?