I travelled to Anshan on business last week, and was attracted by a website stating that the hotel is of 5 star standard with all its features such as a western restaurant, western breakfast and in-house karaoke bar. The price seemed very reasonable at 387 RMB (38 euro). I mean, it s a five star hotel!

The room was of traditional Chinese 3-star style, the carpet, the wall-paper and the sheets were all dirty. The sheets were extremely thick for a hot August day. There was no safe in the room (a must in any hotel above 3 stars), but the reception informed us that we can use safe boxes in the lobby "absolutely for free".
We asked for another room and was shown a supposedly better one. We realized it was a room exactly the same and saw no reason to move.

Well, after checking in we went to the Western restaurant. I am a long-time resident of China and I like normal Chinese food. However, my business associates in Anshan always serve me turtles, snakes and other disgusting stuff, so this time I really wanted to have some familiar food near-by.
In the Western restaurant, I asked the waitor what is in the California Burger. He informs me that they serve only salads and sandwitches, no burgers, pizza or other meat dishes. The reason being that they do not have any meat(!).

After our visit to a factory, we wanted to wind down with some karaoke. The karaoke parlour was closed at 9:30 in the evening.

Next morning, we found out that the hotel did not have hot water. Nor did it have anything remotely Western on the breakfast menu (that I payed extra for).

The same day, I wanted to book flight tickets, but the hotel did not have a business centre or a travel agency.

I talked to the manager, who acted surprised that the restaurant was out of meat, blamed us for not knowing how to set the water to hot, and finally say that we do not understand Northern Chinese entertainment culture, it is very normal to close the karaoke hall at 21:00.

I told the manager that this hotel is in a viscous circle. Obviously they want to save money on meat since they rarely have western guest. Also there is no point keeping the karaoke parlour open when no one goes there, or a business center, or a travel agency etc etc.

I am fine with that, but please stop advertising about this stuff, and for God's sake, skip the thing about 5 stars. Take away three of them and modernise the rooms and cut the price in half. Maybe that could bring customers back.

Well, to sum it up in one sentence: Do not ever, ever, go even close to this hotel!!!!

Mathias Nylund, Finland

This place used to be good, but not anymore. My wife and I stayed at the International Hotel from 27-28 November 2004 while on our honeymoon. We stayed at this hotel previously in early 2003 and were quite happy. We particularly love the heated indoor pool and the quiet, park location. On this occasion, however, it was appalling. The hotel, while once first-class and the best in town, is no longer so 'international'. Our suite was outrageously expensive (especially for Anshan, and not what was quoted when we booked), and in need of some urgent maintenance, including an unsecured room safe without a back on it (we used the hotel security boxes instead). Apart from the diligent and contientious porters, the staff were largely rude and unhelpful (refusing to provide even an iron and ironing board), not available during normal hours, and were completely disinterested in being there. Our decision to leave after only one night, however, derived from the refusal of the breakfast staff to accept my signature. After an argument over the difference between English and Chinese signatures, they finally accepted my wife simply printing my name in capitals on the charge slip. Realising that this would allow anyone to charge things to our room, we checked out immediately. We spent the rest of our five day stay at the WuHuan Hotel (the only other five star hotel in Anshan). Their suite, though smaller, was half the price and of a much higher standard. The service was also much better. Until the International is refurbished and reorganised, we wouldn't stay there again, and we certainly wouldn't recommend it to international travellers.