The hotel is very shabby inside and out. The carpet in our room was absolutely filthy and there was lots of mould in the shower.

The location is terrible - in the middle of nowhere about 4 miles out of Beidaihe town centre. I picked the hotel on over the internet because it's next to the beach, but the beach here is actually quite nasty with muddy sand covered in seaweed and litter which goes out about quarter of as mile before you get to the sea. Some of the hotel's publicity photos appear to have been doctored, and show the sea lapping almost right up to the front door of the hotel. This would be completely impossible apart from during a severe flooding situation.

When we stayed here in October 2006, the hotel was less than half full, and most of the facilities the hotel claims to offer were unavailable. The lights were off in the parts of the building where the facilities were supposed to be, and when we tried to get to them, hotel staff would appear and just say "guanmen" (closed).

The bar which the hotel claims is open every day from 9am till midnight was permanently locked with a bicycle chain across the door handles. This is really inconvenient as the nearest places to get a drink are miles away. To get into Beidaihe town centre by cab you have to run the risk of being masssively overcharged. One taxi driver demanded 3 times the normal fare from us and when we argued he became quite aggressive. One night during our stay we managed to persuade the hotel staff to open the bar especially for us at about 8 in the evening, but by 9:30 they wanted to finish work and we had to go.

I think the word "international" in the hotel's name is very misleading. No English is spoken in the hotel, apart from the reception staff who are able to say things like "have you booked a room", but other than that if you can't speak Mandarin you won't be able to communicate with anyone. One evening in the restaurant when I was ordering food in Mandarin, you could clearly hear the waiters and waitresses on the other side of the room mimicking my English accent and laughing every time I pronounced a word badly.

If you're going to visit Beidaihe, I would definately recommend finding a hotel in the town centre. The town itself is quite nice. The beaches in the town centre are nice and sandy and full of locals trying to sell you shells and necklaces. The ideal length of stay in the area would be 1 or 2 days (but not at this hotel!!)