Probably echo most of the bad things that have been written previously. Room carpets are filthy and smell. Take a torch if you want to see anything in your room and don't bother with the TV, most of them work like they belong in a museum. The western breakfast consists of cereal which has to be eaten with a plastic teaspoon and toast which has to be run throught the toaster at least twice. All this for circa £70/night.............

This hotel was the first experience that I ever had with China. It seems that there always is a dense fog in Qingdao, but one morning I was lucky enough to see the Yellow Sea from my room on the 28th floor. The room had all the amenities you could expect. A small warning: the water bottels in the minibar are tea flavored, that is an interesting suprise. One night I had dinner at the restaurant, they had awesome seafood. Breakfast was a bit difficult for a European: there is fruit, french toast and croissants. A lot of Asian food though.

The location is a bit away from the center, it is halfway between the city center and the temlple scenic area.

Thankfully, my company has now ditched this hotel and I'm very pleased that I won't have to stay here again. Officially, it's rated as 5-star (because of what it has to offer) but the quality of it's offerings is decidedly third rate. The best thing about this hotel is the view (if you're facing the sea) from your room or out of the top-floor restaurant, where you may be lucky enough to see the window cleaners dangling precariously from ropes.

It's not too far to walk to the sandy beach and there are a smattering of restaurants about, though the seafront ones may not be as good as those nearer the hotel. I went to quite a good Korean barbeque next door to the hotel which worked out very reasonably for a small group. There's a small convenience store across the main road. This hotel is not situated well if your primary motive for visiting is to see the old town, at least three-quarters of an hour in traffic by taxi. It is, however, right on top of the beer festival site (though this itself is incredibly overrated, in my opinion).

Every time I've arrived at this hotel the rooms have not been ready. The last time this happened I came prepared for a workout in the gym while I waited. When I got to the changing room (after some explaining that I was indeed a guest and didn't need to pay) I had to go and ask someone to put the lights on so I could see to open the lockers. There were actually people getting changed in the dark for some reason! The gym didn't have much but I thought a quick run followed by a sauna would be nice. The running machine didn't work - not plugged in. I plugged it in - it didn't work. I went to find the staff and told them, they said 'wait a moment'. I waited, and waited, and waited... and after a few more minutes went back out to find them again. I found them all stood around chatting leisurely. After reminding them of the problem, they simply smiled (or smiled simply, if you prefer) and said there was no electric - no apology (either for the lack of electric or their failure to come and inform me). So no workout and, of course, no sauna. I huffed off to my room. It still hadn't been cleaned. So back to reception whereupon my apparent anger resulted in my being giving another room immediately.

The rooms here are functional but definitely more like what you get from a typical low-quality 4-star hotel. Room service isn't up to much, though cheaper than the average 5-star. Again, though, the quality is really poor (at least for western fayre) and both the preparation and presentation leave a lot to be desired. Breakfast is ok, but let's face it - you're ready leave after one night. It's because of hotels like this that the parent company is increasingly being dubbed the "Worst Western" in Asia.

I stayed at this hotel out of necessity as I live nearby and had to move while my apartment was being worked on. This really is one of the filthiest hotel rooms I've ever stayed in. wow. The carpet looks like it was previously used in a train station and the furniture is similarly stained. Really very unpleasant. The breakfast looks like it has been laying around forever (even though I got there only 30 mins. after open). If you don't speak Chinese, communication will be very challenging.
I've come to realize that Best Western will attach it's name to absolutely ANYTHING, but I thought they had at least SOME standards. I was wrong.
Bottom line, stay downtown. There is a VAST difference in quality on all fronts. If you MUST stay in Shi Lao Ren area, sadly there are few other options. (but it's a quick cab from the city if you stay downtown!!)