Tianyuan Hotel — Hotel in Ürümqi

First off, I assume anyone considering staying here is connecting.....or just has an extremely early flight the next morning. Urumqi has a city is fascinating....less so as an airport. ||||As others have said, the location is incredibly close to the airport (several hundred meters) but perhaps not as convenient as it could be. The hotel is highly visible as soon as you walk out the primary China Southern Terminal 3 (and similar for Terminal 2)....but getting there is not well signed. I did end up walking both ways partially out of stubbornness, but did check with the ubiquitous in Xinjiang police before walking out...you do need to walk on a narrow sidewalk and then cross three lanes of moving traffic to get to the hotel. Yes there is a shuttle but it wasn't obvious to me on arrival where it picked up - and on the exit the timing of every 30 minutes was less desirable than just quickly walking.||||After a bit of a mixup upon check-in as the hotel's credit card machine was dysfunctional (both for domestic and intl. cards....and strangely for a hotel this size they didn't take either Alipay or Wechat)....I was impressed by the escort to the room. I was staying in the A Wing, which required going across a skyway from the B Wing where checkin occurred. Along the way the doorman told me about the hotel features etc....||||The room (A Block Luxury Room 豪华间) was quite solid and clearly recently renovated. Bed could have been softer yes by Western standards but better than many in Chinese hotels. Bathroom was quite clean. Clear guides for the hotel and room service available in both English and Chinese. Honestly....probably nicer than many older Sheratons/Marriotts/Hiltons in the US....||||I didn't sample any of the hotels facilities during my quick stay. Some of the dining spaces appeared closed - as a whole, the hotel seemed perhaps larger than needed. They also had domestic airline crew staying there. ||||All in all, for a airport-run hotel in the West of China....pretty solid, but of course not particularly cheap either. Probably best to book via domestic agencies (including say Ctrip's...

I stayed here for two nights prior to my flight to Dushanbe. The room was fine but the bed is quite hard. My problem with this hotel is their lack of communication with their guests. I sent them THREE emails on different occasions asking information regarding their shuttle bus, all without replies. I had to ask my Chinese friend for assistance because the staff couldn't speak in English and we are not getting anywhere at all. Even throughout the stay, I ask simple questions but staff would just say no English and walk away. I was ok with that but what got me mad was during the checkout. ||||I was waiting for the shuttle bus then suddenly the lady mentioned that I still need to pay at least 980 RMB ($100 USD equivalent). This situation was very confusing because why didn't they just charge me everything during the check in. I asked them if I could pay in dollars and they said it was ok however when I gave them the money, they refused to accept it because they only need $100 as a whole note ( all my dollars were in $50 notes). I was there for two nights and nobody mentioned about this! Only telling me in the last minute. It was good that I had an emergency card with me otherwise my flight would have...

The hotel says they offer a shuttle bus. When I called one night, a lady spoke English and said they'll arrange it. WHen I arrived the next day, there was NO shuttle bus. I called the hotel to ask about it and NO ONE COULD SPEAK ENGLISH AND HELP AT ALL. ||||I asked on the phone several times for the English speaker in the most basic English and the lady on the other end kept saying, 'uhhhhhh.' That's it. Over and over again. ||||For a hotel located by an international airport, they really need to invest in English speaking staff. Unbelievable. ||||The hotel also is confusing to get to. We got lost and walked under strange bridges in the cold with bags of stuff. ||||Besides their lack of staff who can communicate effectively and lack of decent walkways to get to their airport hotel, the...