We were at the Bell Tower Hotel one year ago. This second visit we booked into standard rooms and what a major disappointment. They were small 20 sq/meter affairs with lots of complimentary mold in the bath tubs!

The location is great, but other than that the visit was sub standard. For example, we had to book a transfer from the hotel to the train station [probably 2 km distance]. The desk at first refused, said take a bus. I explained we had three kids and suitcases and schlepping on the bus was not appealing. On the metro in Beijing no problem, but Xi'an buses are packed.

The saga continued when they told us the hotel van was fully booked. After bringing a black-suited manager into the picture, suddenly the van was available after all. But we needed to leave at least two hours in advance [for the 2 km trip]. I argued with them about this and we left 90 minutes early. The trip took all of 21 minutes.

Xi'an is a wonderful vibrant city. The bell and drum tower and Muslim quarter area is impressive and around Christmas time is even more so. The Bell Tower Hotel is none of this, certainly not wonderful, vibrant or impressive.

A friend had recommended this Hotel as being very central and having great views of the Bell Tower if you could request a room with that view. We were very lucky in that the Hotel did indeed grant our request and the view was fantastic. The room was very clean and larger than we expected. The staff at reception couldn't do enough to help us with any requests that we had. As you would expect Xi'an is a very busy city and the only problem we had was getting a taxi as unfortunately the front of the hotel is pedestrianised. We were sent to the side of the hotel to try and pick a taxi up on the road but this was impossible. We had to walk to a quieter spot before being able to get a taxi to stop. The Hotel arranged for a car to pick us up and drop us off at the airport and also to take us to see the sights. This was a little expensive but well worth it as the chap that took us was very pleasant and helpful.

The location of the hotel is stunning with fabulous views of the Bell and Drum Towers in Xian and is brilliatly located for the main shooping centres in the city. After that it was downhill all the way. The room was one of the strangest we've stayed, very long but narrow and little wardrobe space so most of our clothes stayed in the suitcases. Hygene wasn't a feature as Lynne got bitten by a bug in the room and the overall feel of the room was of shabbyness. The staff didn't seem that keen to help - we got particular short shrift whe we asked if we could change some currency and frakly, they've a lot to do if Xian is going to climb up the tourist attraction charts in China. Our main reason for staying was as a base for a trip to the Terracotta Warriors and if this is your main reason for a visit to the area then you'd be better investigating accommodation near the site, which is starting to develop or, at best, use another hotel in Xian. Suffice to say that we won't use this hotel when we come back

Stayed there in June for business for 3 days with collegue. Great central location. From the moment we arrived the front desk seemed perpetually flustered and when we asked any questions we were met with an abrupt answer. On the last day we asked for late checkout. We were told it was fine. On checking out we were charged an extra half day. When we questioned this we were rudely told "did you expect to stay longer for free? Yes you can have late checkout but you have to pay for it!!" when we complained to the manager we were not told of the extra charge she gave virtually the same answer!
This whole incident put a dampener on an otherwise pleasslent visit.