I spent two nights here on a weekend trip through Guilin. Their free airport pickup service is great (although more on this later), someone holding a sign with my name met me as I exited the airport, and led me to a minivan where they drove me directly to the hotel. The front desk staff speak limited English, but its generally sufficient as long as you don't need anything unusual from them. I stayed in room 530, which really looked absolutely nothing like the fancy, quirky & colorful pictures posted here on tripadvisor (or the hotel's website). It looked more like they picked up random used furniture at a yard sale. My reservation was for a "business king room" however, what I found was two twin beds. However, the room was clean, and in good condition for the most part. The free internet access worked fine (ignoring China's censorship blockade of some websites). As others have noted the bed was rocky hard, but this is fairly common throughout asia. Both mornings I paid 15Y (about US$3.65) for their Chinese breakfast buffet. It was nothing fancy, but the food was the usual assortment of rice, noodles, and congee, and for the price, I certainly can't complain. They also offered a 50Y "western" breakfast, but I never saw anyone eating it, so I don't know what it constituted.

Upon checking out, the overall experience soured. They sent someone up to check my room, presumably to make sure that I didn't break or steal anything. This is pretty offensive, but so be it. However, when I had the audacity to inquire about getting a ride back to the airport, they informed me that they only provide a complimentary pickup service, and I was on my own to get back to the airport. This is a first for me, as I travel quite extensively all over the world, and I've never stayed anywhere that didn't provide round trip service, if they provided any at all. I then inquired about how I could get to the airport, and they said that there was an airport bus at some location which I knew nothing about (why they assumed that a traveler would know how to find a place that they've never heard of before is a mystery). I asked if they had a map that I could use to get to the bus stop, and they wanted me to pay 6Y. I declined the offer, and left, rather disappointed in how they treat their customers once they've extracted money from them.

I should note that later in the day I stopped in the Sheraton, and while they too did not have a shuttle to the airport, they gladly provided me with a very good street map, and directions on how to find the airport bus. While I readily admit that the Sheraton is an entirely different level of service than this hotel, the way I was treated upon checking out was deplorable.

We arranged to be collected at the airport by the hotel which was free and were shown to a mini bus with about 8 chinese guests already seated. We spoke to the guide on the way to the hotel and she said she would arrange a trip down the River Li the next day. The hotel was very central and very busy. The staff at reception were very good and in no time at all we were in our room. It was slightly smaller than we expected but very clean. The decoration was very jazzy and we had 2 lime green furry chairs which cheered us up no end!. We found it difficult at first to find our way around Guilin as we had arrived in the dark. We were very hungry so headed to the river to find a restaurant which we did but the menues were in Chinese and no one spoke English - what an adventure. We managed to order some food which was very nice and very cheap. The next night we managed to locate the "walking street" which was more used to tourists and were able to find lots of bars and restaurants.
I would recommend this hotel if you are on a budget or not as we spent very little time in the room. The beds were of course very hard but its what you come to expect in China but the rooms were comfortable. It was a little noisy in the corridors very early in the morning as there tended to be chinese coach trips but you are up early to go on your tour in any event so its not really a hassle.

This property has lovely renewed rooms, quite spacious and very comfortable. It's almost a boutique hotel despite having such attractive rates that might lead to you think it's not that great.

It is also very well located, close to the main city park and in a very nice area.

The staff speaks some good english for the chinese standards.

They also provide a free shuttle servive from and to the local airport!

A place to return if I ever want to have a good base to explore the area.

This hotel is part of the Starway hotel chain and aptly given the 0773 Starway / Grand Hotel name after the local phone code prefix.
I stayed on the 6th floor in Oct/Nov 2011 for 5 nights. Rooms are pretty small but incredibly clean. They are decorated with various shades of bright and light colors that make the room lively. Rooms are very bright as compared to most other hotels. Even the corridors are painted and lighted brightly. Internet net wired LAN speed is great >4 mbps most of the time so I don't even need the large flat panel TV provided for entertainment. Be warned though that only websites that can get through the Great Firewall of China will you able to enjoy the high speed internet.
Most if not all the great attractions in Guilin are within walking distance or with a max RMB1 bus ride. Taxi fare to hotel from Civil Aviation Building is about RMB7.5. You can enjoy rice noodles just opposite the hotel or western breakfast in the hotel if you are not keen.
I would rate this as a great boutique hotel excellent for young and old couples on personal accounts.