The first time round I stayed at Dongfang Binguan from 1981 to 1983 for almost two years. At that time it was basically the only top-class (!) hotel in Guangzhou. During the last five years I returned to Dongfang several times and enjoyed the stay there. Of course, the hotel is now fully refurbished and a good place to stay. Service is excellent. Breakfast is ok, could offer a bit more variety. Restaurants offer excellent food,

I stayed here with my family. The cost was reasonable for the room size. The best feature of this hotel is the location. Very close to great restaurants and subway system that allow for easy access to all of Guangzhou. Taxis are easy to catch on this street too.

The rooms were clean but we found the beds really hard and difficult to sleep in. Showers and the beds were clean and modernized. I was only here for two nights, but I would come back to this hotel.

This hotel has been a mainstay for business travellers (Canton Fair etc.) for decades and at one time was "the" place to stay. And it shows! Unfortunately for the hotel, the rest of Guangzhou has moved on and developed with international five star hotel brands appearing in new development areas such as Tianhe, resulting in the Dongfang becoming inconvenient and tired but still proudly proclaiming its five star China rating. It has its good points e.g. free wi-fi etc. but I can only recommend this hotel nowadays for budget travellers seeking average accommodation. Points to watch out for:
a) the hotel takes a credit card swipe at check-in for "security deposit" - nothing unusual in that - but they require you to sign the credit card voucher. At check-out there is no attempt to cancel the swipe if nothing has been charged to the room. It is necessary to demand the charge be cancelled and receive a receipt showing a negative charge (my room was prepaid).
b) one of my colleagues needed to change rooms as she discovered a cockroach in her original room;
c) the breakfast restaurant serves acceptable food, but there seems no attempt to clean dropped food from the floor, due to capacity you are likely to sit at a table before the previous guest's mess is cleared away and you may need to dine outside if the air conditioned restaurant is full (great in spring and fall, not so good in summer or winter!).
d) concierge wasn't too helpful in directing to destinations asked - they seem to have a fixed idea of where to send guests. I imagine there are a few entertainment places in Guangzhou that are frequented almost exclusively by Dongfang guests!
Would I stay here again? Probably yes, if I had to. But my expectations would not too great. By international standards it's three star at best. There are better choices these days.

This government-owned hotel is precisely what you'd expect from that kind of proprietor: looks really good on the outside, but once you are inside there's just so much average and wrong.

Take, for example, the room clock. Shouldn't every room have an alarm clock? Well, mine didn't. And neither did those of my colleagues. Why? Beats me.

A quiet night. Shouldn't we all expect a quiet night at an expensive hotel? Well, tell that to the manager who decided to order a crew to install carpet from midnight to morning in the lobby outside of my room.

The in-house internet is another area where the government-ownership rears its head. Yes, we all know that certain websites are blocked in China. But at the Dongfang, the in-house internet actually blocks above and beyond the government censorship list! It's impossible, for example, to access a VPN because, apparently, they're blocked. Next door, however, at the Starbucks and McDonald's, no problem.

Beds are hard; food is greasy. The gym is small and sort of okay, but seriously lacking in sufficient equipment for a hotel of this size. I must say, however, the staff is very good and helpful. So a hat tip to them.

But if you're looking for a good hotel in a similar price range, Guangzhou has many that exceed this half-baked attempt at something grand. Stay elsewhere.