Universal Hotel Urumqi — Hotel in Ürümqi

This hotel is called the Universal Hotel Urumqi now. A grand hotel with a luxurious room, with floor to ceiling windows in both the bedroom and bathrooom. The room was very hot, the air conditioning didn’t work and the fan moved the hot air around. We left the windows open over night to cool the room with the cool outdoor air, but if anything the air was blowing out. In the morning I asked our guide to explain at the front desk that we wanted to move to a different room if they could not repair the air conditioning. Front desk staff assured him that a portable air conditioner would be installed in the room to cool it off during the day. The guide called during the day and confirmed that all was OK. When we got back very late to the room, the air conditioner had been delivered to the room, but never plugged in and the room was as hot as ever. The writing on the machine was Chinese and no English instructions were provided. We put the machine on a setting that seemed to be « fan » and never figured out how to get « cool ». The machine made a sound of small cartoon animals chatting that was muted when « fan » was on high. We slept on top of the bed on our second and last night. When our guide asked about the heat in the room we also got him to ask for instant coffee packets, as there was only tea. We were told that the coffee was very black and I said fine, we take the coffee black, no sugar, anyway. The coffee packets left in the room had powdered milk and sugar mixed in and the coffee was undrinkable. Our neighbours checked in late, let their three boys use the hallway as a shouting playground, until I told her that this was quite unreasonable after 11 p.m. There were a lot of strange-looking options at the dinner buffet – the red wine was included and generously topped up – while some staff shouted from the dining area, over our heads into the not-so-nearby kitchen. ...

Been traveling in Silk Road in Western China for the last two weeks and trying to stay in the best hotel each city got to offer. So far this is the best. Starting from Lanzhou onwards, this is closest to true near 5 stars. Mind you, this did not say much. Do not expect this to be like Peninsular in Beijing or Ritz Carlton in Pudong Shanghai. But after you have stayed in some losers in Zhangye or Jiayuguan, you will think you have reached Nirvana. The service is good and they tried to find me a person who can speak some limited English whenever I talk to them. Dinner and breakfast buffet are good. Bedsheets are crisp and thick. I was told that hotel was recently redecorated. It goes by the new name of U-Hotel. You will have trouble finding it in TripAdvisor whom I think should have updated the name and information. One word of extreme caution. The air conditioning in the room is not very effective and have difficulty keeping it at 22 degrees Celsius. In October now in Urumqi, this is not a major issue. But if you going to Silk Road in summer, which you shouldn't, I will advise you not to take a west facing room if you want to survive the fierce...

It is a modernized western hotel within the city||||The lobby is nicely decorated with a huge glass dome,with a ten foot gold color painting on the wall||||The room is nicely decorated||||Some of the guests told us their room is too hot and there is no air condition,they were told to open the windows(though there is none to open!!||||We were lucky the AC works||||The breakfast buffet have lots of selection ||||However most of the food though it was left on a heated tray which reads "100" but the food contents are Luke warm or cold||||There is not enough staff to handle the huge volume of group tourists e.g.to fill up your coffee,clean the table etc||||I order a noodle soup and watch the chef bring the noodle and dipped in the hot water bath for literally less than five seconds and told me it is ready||||The concierge offers excellent service||||The bed,pillows ,and bedding are very comfortable||||They have two options Of taking baths....the traditional bathtub or the California...