We researched 4 hotels on the Huangshan mountain summit and all of them have some crappy reviews - so we were dismayed. But, we wanted to stay on the mountain to catch the sunset/sunrise and have easy access to hiking, and we read that Shilin Hotel was probably the best option and the reviews were right. We were satisfied with our stay there - here's what you need to know before you go.

The sooner you accept that the prices are high because of location and that this is a major tourist destination, the better. You should not expect the same service and quality as you would in some swank hotel in a big city. Since there are few hotel options, tons of tourists, no competition - the quality level is going to be lower. But it's still adequate in our opinion.

Shilin is closest to the Yungu cable car stop and is about a 20-30 minute walk up and down hills. Don't bring wheeled luggage - seriously, don't. You'll end up just checking it at the cable car stop. The hotel is next to the Beihai hotel, so there are extra dining options if you so choose. Shilin is a 10 minute walk uphill from some sunrise viewing spots and it's not far from the West Canyon trail (30 minutes?), although you do have to go downhill quite a ways to get there, which means a lot of uphill coming back.

If you pay for a standard room, you get heavy coats in the room that can be used to go out for the sunset or sunrise. The room itself is small but modern. Beds are pretty firm, but many beds in Asia are that way because the local clientele prefer it like that. The bathroom is an issue - the toilet is almost underneath the shower. Hence you could literally do your business and shower up at the same time. An attempt at efficiency gone awry? Yeah, more like annoying, but just be prepared for that. Rooms have wired Internet. Lobby has wireless. The Internet speed wasn't terrible - around 768kbps if I remember correctly.

The food is OK - the a la carte place had some good dishes when we had lunch there. The dinner buffet was pricey and had a lot of options, but you best get there early or else choices dwindle. Remember, all of the food you eat is brought up the hill by people on foot - yes, people hiking up the mountain. Speaking of those porters, try not to take photos of them because they're sensitive about it. I don't think they want to be seen doing such hard labor.

Finally, the service. We found the hotel staff to be nice. But remember, they have tons of tourists and tour group leaders screaming at them, so you just have to be aggressive and get their attention when necessary. And as for tourists, when we went, it was mostly domestic tourists and other Asian tourists. We were the only laowai (foreigners) staying there.

Hope that helps!

-Tony from http://www.rollerbagger.com

This hotel is located on the top of Huangshan. We spend 4 hours climbing up the mountain, stayed in the hotel overnight, got up early to watch the sunrise (an absolute must! Spectacular!) and then went down the mountain again the next day. The hotel itself is perfectly adequate. The room wasn't that big, it was a standard room with an extra bed in as there were three of us travelling together. It was clean and the beds were comfortable. We opted for the buffet dinner for 100RMB per person but it really wasn't worth the money. The food was cold and there was hardly any choice. I think it's probably better to go to the main restaurant in this hotel. Unfortunately, because you're on the top of a mountain and there are limited places to go to eat, you will have to pay more than you usually would pay in a restaurant in China. That said, Huangshan itself is an absolute must! It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Definitely get up early to see the sunrise, and if you can find it, go and search out the 'Fairy Bridge'. Just beautiful! I loved Huangshan and would recommend the hotel too.

I stay for a night in Shilin hotel. First when you come to this hotel,they had a slogan,excellent service,etc. I think the lobby is impressing. We booked this room from the internet,and thought the room was excellent because they rate their self with 4 star an believe in the picture we saw on internet. We paid 180RMB each for 10 person,so its 1800RMB in total. Do you know what room we got? a room with 5 bed (1 bed is consist of above and below bed) total 10 bed,and a very dirty floor,with the bathroom inside which the bathroom is no door. So,if the girls wants to take a bath,the boys must be go out from the room,its so smelly,and disgusting!
Even the blanket has a blood stain in it. The bathroom condition?oohh..so awful, I guess you even don't want to take a bath. When we ask to change to another room,they even gave us worse room than the first one. We said we want to change room,and its ok to pay more but we want to cancel that room,you know what they said?the room can't be canceled and we can't booked a room because its fully booked,what the hell. I will share the picture of the hotel so all of you can see it.
Better sleep in tent than in this hotel. and the service is the worst one. When one of my friend smoking in the lobby(which is everybody can do it),one of the staff ask him for giving the staff money."If you want to smoke here,you must pay 3RMB",what the hell!
What I just can say is,better you stay in another hotel,this hotel is terrible,and the staff is very annoying!
If I can rate this hotel with no star,I will do it!

I booked for two nites here but end up staying only one nite, sacrificing the other nite. this is partly my fault as I did not understand the routing of huangshan, and I'll be damned if I have to repeat the route and come back here. the hotel has a nice lobby and that's about it. the room was small, and as mentioned the bathroom was the dumbest thing I've ever seen,the shower and toilet share one space so the floor is wet after shower, you can imagine. although the day was warm, it got chilly in the evening. I called the front desk and they said heating is not yet available, I'm welcome to use the extra blanket provided. but I told them that won't help when I have my massage naked.