1) Review of overall stay in Xiyuan Hotel, Yangzhou

The hotel is in a fantastic location - within easy (5 - 15 mins) walking distance to the Slender West Lake Scenic Area (Shou Xi Hu), good restaurants and tourist shopping areas. The hotel is set back from the main road by a large front garden and is quiet and pleasant. There are a range of decent restaurants on the hotel site - so breakfast is not a problem even if it's not included in the room price. However, I should mention that the Yechun Garden Restaurant on the hotel site is NOT the same as the famous "hundred-year-old brand" Yechun Teahouse listed in all the travel guide books. The name is the same, and it's misleading and unfair to the old restaurant, which is in a less-obvious location and more difficult to find.

The hotel rooms are clean and comfortable, although the hotel architecture itself is a little dated- it can do with an external layer of paint! The lobby, too, can do with a bit of re-decoration - it is a little bit 1980's (!)..

The staff is helpful and service is prompt- and non-Chinese speakers should not have a problem with obtaining help/service. However, the cleaning service is somewhat odd - they seem to leave out at least one thing (eg. forget to replace the tea bags, or forget to replace the toilet tissue- we actually had to make a list and leave it in our room every morning).

2) The Travelchinaguide booking service is excellent, very convenient and I have no hassles at all.

3) You can publish my review (edit any bits necessary) and you can use my name. Can you also please send my comments to the hotel also? I'm sure they appreciate a bit of feedback - but more importantly the thing about all those hotel restaurants mis-using the name of "Yechun". I've never seen this happen elsewhere, in China or other countries of the world. The name in Chinese is EXACTLY the same as the one which had been there for hundreds of years - it's very very unfair to the old restaurant and very confusing to visitors, who want to try the original. They really should change the name, or at least make it slightly different in Chinese.

4) I don't know if you're the right place to send this comment to, but we had an interesting experience in Yangzhou - a bit of a traffic mishap. Yangzhou is a very nice, clean, beautiful city. But the traffic and driving conditions are TERRIBLE (terrifying, horrific, in fact). We were riding in a taxi, which stopped by the side of the road neat Siwangting to let us out. One passenger opened the right back door to get out, but an idiot on a scooter, driving at high speeds, didn't stop in time, and tried to get past the taxi ON THE RIGHT SIDE (ie, between the taxi and the road kerb). He fell off, then started to yell and carry on and tried to get money off us. Luckily the Australian consulate and Yangzhou traffic police were very helpful - and the taxi driver took full responsibility for the incident (although the idiot on the scooter was not injured) - because the driver stopped in a place that was illegal. But it still wasted us a whole day, sorting out the mess in the police station. WE would like to pass on our thanks to the Yangzhou Traffic Division for their help and consideration, and their efforts at expediting the matter, but can you, as a major tourism operator in China, pass on the message to the relevant people the mayor, the government, the police - whoever - that, to promote tourism in China, traffic laws should be more strictly enforced? It will not only ensure the safety visitors, but also for the local people - a lot of $$ and productivity is lost through needless injuries on the road. In Australia, even the most minor breaches of traffic laws result in BIG fines (hundreds of Australian dollars). As a result, less than 15 people die on the roads per year (and make heaps of $$ for the government, too). Cars drive in an orderly fashion - they follow the traffic lights, stay in the same lane, and don't engage in loud and disturbing honking unless absolutely necessary. China is a fantastic country and a fascinating place to visit - I've been there 4 times in the last 10 years. Each time I had an excellent time, each time I say that I will definitely go back again, but each time I still fear for my life as I cross the streets. This is a terribly important issue - can you please pass it on? I've thought about writing a letter to the Yangzhou traffic police - but my Chinese isn't very good.

Thank you
Angela Lam

[+][+][+] TCG Reply:
Dear Miss. Angela Lam,

Thank you so much for your kind and sincere reply. We do have informed the hotel about your kind comments, and are sure that the hotel will make more progress in their service and will offer you a higher quality service in the following days. Thank you again for your kind reply.

About your kind suggestion on our booking center, we are pleased to inform you that when making the reservation, we always send Chinese booking forms to the hotel and there will be no problem for the hotel to make arrangement according to your requests. Hope for your better understanding.

As for your constructive suggestion to Yangzhou Traffic Division, we highly appreciate all your kind efforts to perfect the public service. We will try our best to forwarded your suggestion to the relevant government. Thank you again for your kind and sincere reply.

Guest Name:Miss. Angela LamNationality : Australia Updated:2009-1-20

Dear Lena, Thank you for your e-mail and for all your services.

Cheers,

Ana

Xiyuan Hotel, Yangzhou: Good location. Very hard beds, sauna didn't work. Sorry, they could repair it sometimes but they should tell you when you are making the reservation. Western breakfast but very few options. Very rude staff: the guy who carried the suitcase (he carried just one, the other we did by ourselves) looked to the tip with contempt and didn't accept that few money. He was expecting more. This kind of behavior is unacceptable.

About TCG: I really loved your service. The hotel address in Chinese, sent with the voucher, was wonderful. I didn't have any problem in none of the reservations during our visit in China. We made 8 reservations using TCG and all of them where perfect. We decided to change one of the hotels just one day before and we used your on-line service, that was wonderful too.

Guest Name:Mrs. Ana Maria Anselmo GuimaraesNationality : Brazil Updated:2009-1-20

Location was great with big stores and restaurants around. The west lake is also a short drive distance from the hotel. Staffs were friendly and eager to help. And they tried very hard to understand us and pleased us to make our stay enjoyable despite the language barriers. Rooms were a little bit small but the beds were huge and comfortable. And there are enough toiletries in the bathroom and the qualities of the shampoo, the body lotion were high. Besides, there are two bottles of mineral waters provided every day. I will highly recommend this hotel to my friends who plan a trip to China.

Guest Name:Mr. richard(Guest)Nationality : Updated:2008-4-24 14:07:00

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