Holiday Inn Express Dalian City Centre — Hotel in Dalian City

We booked 2 rooms at this hotel through Holiday Inn's IHG app, and had two rather annoying problems:||||1. The map on the app shows the wrong location, so we wandered the streets a few blocks from the hotel sweating with our luggage in tow. When we finally found the place (thanks Baidu maps!), the check-in people merely shrugged at this error. Whatever, we'd arrived.||||2. Somehow our reservation had been changed to only one room. The previous day our app had shown us two rooms under our name, but now at check-in it showed only one. No problem--glitches happen, and luckily there were empty rooms. Again, the check-in people were very uninterested in the error. No apologies or promises to look into the issue--they just added a second room.||||The hotel itself is fine. Location is good (if you can find it), not far from the Zhongshan Square subway stop. Walk 2 blocks from Zhongshan Square along Shanghai Road to find the hotel (not Qiyi Street like the IHG map says). Our bed was comfortable, the room was as expected, the breakfast buffet was a little better than average, and the staff were pretty typical for Chinese mid-range hotels (some English; occasionally glimpses of friendliness). The Japanese convenience store off the main lobby is a good source of snacks, as long as you don't try to go in when it's busy. Can be chaotic with the lack of queuing, narrow aisles and unmotivated staff.||||One other annoyance: we wanted to do some laundry on the 2nd floor, but if you go after-hours (like 10pm) the elevator doors open to a wall of metal. You can't get out. They close off the 2nd floor to elevators for some reason, so you have to go to the 1st or 3rd floor and take the stairs. No notice (at least in English) that they do this, so the doors opening to metal shutters can be disconcerting. We almost gave up, assuming the laundry room was closed, but luckily we figured out the work-around via the stairs and got our clothes clean.||||Seriously, everything we experienced at this hotel screamed "chabuduo," which approximately means "meh,...

We booked 2 rooms at this hotel through Holiday Inn's IHG app, and had two rather annoying problems:||||1. The map on the app shows the wrong location, so we wandered the streets a few blocks from the hotel sweating with our luggage in tow. When we finally found the place (thanks Baidu maps!), the check-in people merely shrugged at this error. Whatever, we'd arrived.||||2. Somehow our reservation had been changed to only one room. The previous day our app had shown us two rooms under our name, but now at check-in it showed only one. No problem--glitches happen, and luckily there were empty rooms. Again, the check-in people were very uninterested in the error. No apologies or promises to look into the issue--they just added a second room.||||The hotel itself is fine. Location is good (if you can find it), not far from the Zhongshan Square subway stop. Walk 2 blocks from Zhongshan Square along Shanghai Road to find the hotel (not Qiyi Street like the IHG map says). Our bed was comfortable, the room was as expected, the breakfast buffet was a little better than average, and the staff were pretty typical for Chinese mid-range hotels (some English; occasionally glimpses of friendliness). The Japanese convenience store off the main lobby is a good source of snacks, as long as you don't try to go in when it's busy. Can be chaotic with the lack of queuing, narrow aisles and unmotivated staff.||||One other annoyance: we wanted to do some laundry on the 2nd floor, but if you go after-hours (like 10pm) the elevator doors open to a wall of metal. You can't get out. They close off the 2nd floor to elevators for some reason, so you have to go to the 1st or 3rd floor and take the stairs. No notice (at least in English) that they do this, so the doors opening to metal shutters can be disconcerting. We almost gave up, assuming the laundry room was closed, but luckily we figured out the work-around via the stairs and got our clothes clean.||||Seriously, everything we experienced at this hotel screamed "chabuduo," which approximately means "meh,...

I will start by saying that it was one of the best value hotel I've ever stayed. I paid at a low rate for a night and was treated like in an InterContinental.

The location can't be better. It is right at the center of the busiest commercial district of Dalian surrounded by dozens of shopping centers and vendor streets. It's also very close to InterContinental Dalian. Restaurants options nearby are plentiful and we chose to enjoy the seafood buffet on the second floor of the hotel. Buffet is very generously priced and even better the front desk staff gave us two voucher to knock it off further. And it didn't disappoint. Many fresh raw seafoods, Chinese dishes, and UNLIMITED BEER including Tsingtao)! We had our stomach full when we walked out :) The breakfast also features almost anything you can think of in a Holiday Inn Express.

Room was properly prepared and exquisitely clean. I was given a higher floor with a nice view of the city. The only thing that travelers from other countries should be aware of is that their POS machine forcibly charged you in converted currency from a bad rate on the bill if you pay with a MasterCard or Visa. And the front desk didn't know how to bill you in local currency. Cash or an Amex may be the better...