Hot Spring Hotel does have in-room baths with Hot Spring Water which is a bug plus. The decor is clearly about 15 years old (when this may well have been a true "5-star" rated hotel. Food was very good , esp Seafood Chowder which was outstanding.

This hotel has obviously seen better days. It used to be the government guest house apparently for hosting of visiting dignitaries but now it seems to cater mainly to local travellers as evidenced by its breakfast arrangements. The table setting ( where it was set) were Chinese-style and we had daily to ask for knife and fork. The buffet spread was largely Chinese with basic Western breakfast offerings that included toast, pastries and sausages alternating with bacon. The buffet price at RMB 38 (approx US$ 6.50) per pax is a steal though. And why did we have to pay extra for breakfast? This was because we booked our room online through www.cntrip.com which got us an excellent deal of RMB 418 nett (approx US$ 71) plus breakfast for one.

So for that price, we can't really complain. We got the trappings of a 5-star hotel with sufficiently roomy rooms, good housekeeping and things that worked. What was lacking was service both at the front desk and in the coffee house where breakfast was served. We arrived close to midnight and had to load our luggage onto the hotel's trolley before the bellman appeared. Like a previous reviewer said, they put down an authorization amount tonour credit card at check in which was almost double the room rate amount, and worse, when we checked out, they held on to one copy when they handed overthe authorization slip to us (at our request) claiming that that needed that in case there were unexpected extraneous charges to our room. "Trust us", they said. We were not having any of that, and insisted that they surrender that copy to us.

We would not recommend this hotel for non-Mandarin speaking travelers. The front desk people were not proficient in English, and I doubt if we could have gotten our way of we could not have engaged them in Mandarin. The staff too did not have web access at the counter and so were not of much help in responding to our queries on location. Over at the breakfast area, it was obvious that the servers had not been trained to clear plates away when the diners left the table for more food.

The hotel is desperately in need of a makeover if it is to compete with genuine 5-star hotels like the newly arrived Westin and the established Lakeview Hotel. And do not be deceived by the name. Its claim to being a hot spring hotel is on account of hot spring water piped to the rooms. It has nothing to do with it's location as it is in the heart of town, which is admittedly something in its favour.

We stayed in one of the business rooms on the 15th floor, which was supposed to have a "Queen size / King Size" bed. In fact it was the size of a normal (small) double bed. The room had quite a few big stains on the carpet and all the furnishings and fittings were pretty tired looking. There was a balcony to the room (I think every room has one), but this was locked so I had to ask room service to unlock it for me. They would only do this if I dated and signed some kind of accident waiver form that they produced. The bathroom had marble walls in a kind of pink stained 90's retro style that would fit right in to american soap operas of the 80's or 90's. There was a surprisingly large collection of free bathroom goodies including razors, shampoo, creams, soaps and a shower cap. Other than that the room was fine; the shower worked and had hot water and the temperature was maintained at a good level without any noisy air conditioning unit visible. There was free, high speed internet available via an ethernet port on the desk. The minibar was very expensive and it looked like the contents had been left untouched for quite some time. We did get a bowl of free fruit.

The business floor had a free meeting room, a single very old looking desktop PC and a free coffee room. The coffee room was the size of a small cafe and you could either drink your coffee there or have it delivered to your room - gratis. Smoking is - apparently - encouraged throughout the hotel except in the elevators.

The room service was very good, so we were not disturbed when we stayed in the room until 11:30am on the Sunday. They always came to the room very quickly and provided a good level of service.

The hotel has various facilities that we didn't check out, including a load of expensive shops, a bowling alley, a restaurant and a nightclub. We made it to the free buffet breakfast on the Sunday morning (open 7:30-9:30), where we managed to eat a fairly good breakfast. As usual in China you could take your pick of various rice, boiled meat and spicy dishes for breakfast. Western food was limited to pork sausages, bread (all brioche of course), jam, butter and a couple of strange tasting fruit juices which I think were squash. There was a chef who would cook you an egg any style.

We went to the hotel bar for a drink on the first night. As usual the menu was merely a list of drinks that they have stocked at some point in the past, so all of the five imported beers were unavalable, leaving just Tsing Tao. At 25 RMB per can this seemed reasonable until we came to pay the bill. After 4 cans of Tsing Tao, the bill was 245 RMB. Apparently it is 25 RMB per GLASS of beer, not per can (despite the fact that they give you the whole can with your glass). Then there was 45 RMB for the "complimentary" fruits that they foisted upon us. Why? Because it turns out that the hotel bar is in fact a karaoke bar that has just as many hookers as it does customers. All of these women of the night were wearing the same outfit so it must be fairly legit, but it's not a place for couples, families or those with heart conditions. One of them even phoned up our room phone the next day to see if my girlfriend and I needed any services. That's a big "bu hao" for the hotel.

The hotel also insisted on us laying down a 2000 RMB deposit for the room, despite:
a) the contents of the room not being worth that much
b) the bill for our entire stay being half that amount (1000 RMB)

We saw quite a few Japanese and Taiwanese business men here with golf clubs, which seems to be the kind of clientelle they cater for.

I would advise people to steer clear of this place.

The Shangri-La is more expensive, but has top notch service and an amazing downstairs lounge so stay there instead.