This hotel is by far the best hotel I've stayed at during our Chinese New Year 2012 trip to China. Other hotel brands I've stayed at include Sofitel, Capital just for comparison.

The first thing I noticed about the rooms was how massive they were, it felt more like living in an apartment with a lot of walking space. The bathrooms are well equipped with a bathtub and bath foam completed the experience. Unfortunately the hotel doesn't replace bathfoam so plan your baths carefully!

Service is awesome and we experienced it even before we stayed there. A few days prior to arriving I called the hotel asking if I could have two twins in one of the rooms I've booked, they said it normally costs extra but this time I would get it upgraded for free. Then at reception my other king bed room got upgraded to a double queen!

The only thing that was disappointing was that Grand Mercure doesn't let you accumulate points on your club card if booked through an agent (in my case, Expedia). This is strange because I've never had problems with this with other Accor hotels. Breakfast was great, largest variety I've seen yet. I even got a 50% discount because they felt sorry that I couldn't get points on my club card.

There is wireless internet and it's really fast. Centrally situated in Xi'an, it is easy to find, walking distance to shops, restaurants, attractions and the state police provides very good security here. I would definitely recommend this place to all my friends.