Aiqun Hotel — Hotel in Guangzhou City

We stay at Aiqun Hotel @ No. 113 Yanjiang West Road, Yuexiu District from 9/13 - 9/16/13. Even though I am of Chinese descent, I have never been to China. I booked this particular hotel because it was constructed during the time of my mother's birth in the 1930's. Unfortunately, some of the reviews of the guests is true. I really like our stay at the Aiqun Hotel putting aside some of the negatives. ||||I think the reason for a major of the complaints is the hotel smells old and musky. I think it's from the humidity and from the Pearl River being near by. Also the bathroom shower curtain is TOO SHORT...it's only 64" long...should be 72" Long. It does not even touch the top of the bathtub so the shower water just runs off out on to the floor and it runs down in between floors causing mildew to form. That's why there is a musky and rotting smell. Unfortunately to solved that, the hotel has to tear down the walls and replaced the rotting wood. All the shower curtains need to be least 72" long shower curtain. The caulking also needs to be RESEALED tightly again around the tub edges and surrounding fixtures to keep water out. Anyway I'm sending the Aiqun Hotel some brand new 72" long COMMERCIAL grade shower curtains & rings for RM. 641 and some extra shower curtains if they need them.......plus a copy of my hotel review. Since I do speak the Cantonese - SiYi dialect of my mother, I was able to converse with some of the staff. ||||Other than that the Aiqun Hotel is a great hotel at one time in the days of her glory and it's location right next to Pearl River, it can definitely come back again with much TLC AND GOOD SPONSOR!! With a bit of remodeling which doesn't have to a great amount of NEW work because it's historical..so it should be kept periodically as is a much as possible. I think the OLD wall paper should be taken down. Wall Paper takes up too much upkeep and it ages and a heck to strip and take down. Besides paper and damp weather just doesn't go together and it makes it AGED faster. I think 10 – 15 year SEMI-GLOSS LOW moisture MILDEW RESISTANT interior paint is better. Paint it once and you don’t have to deal with it for 10 -15 years. BUY and use ONLY STANDARD STOCK COLOR PAINT…..then you don’t have to match the color dye lot. ||||I wrote a favorable review when I got home to USA. I enjoyed all the food in all three restaurants. While the 3 restaurants which occupied the top three floors of the hotel (and one is a revolving restaurant), each is sort of related to the other. They all share the same 5 menus but at different times. They served Dim Sum for breakfast in the morning and again in the afternoon in the revolving restaurant but the waitress also does a "tea ceremony" when she pours the tea using 3 apparatus. You have to REALLY watch her...she is very quick with her hands as she goes from a bag of tea leaves to presenting a nice pot or cup of tea. || ||The hotel can also make money by selling towel sets with the Aiqun Hotel logo with the year that it was built on it and packaged toiletries carrying the Aiqun Hotel brand name. I think that would be a big hit items for sales at your gift shop. Another items is to sell are postcards with the pictures of the Aiqun Hotel (past and present). ||||Secondly, I see on the other travel internet sites that the hotel rates runs from $24.00 USD to $27.00 USD. I think that's sort of a bit too LOW for a full service hotel. We paid $45.00 USD/night for Rm. 641...and I considered that reasonable. Our room was big and it faces the Pearl River. The shower head felt off in the middle of showing. Hotel maintenance was notified and another one was brought in by the end of the day....so that was O.K. The hotel, the size of the building and size of the staff, charging a very low hotel fee of $26.00/night is not going to be enough to help them bring in the revenue to clean up, remodel and renovate that hotel.||||Note: This is a Chinese owned hotel. Most Chinese owned hotels offers the very basic. A Chinese hotel is not meant to be a resort where one's stay in all day. A Chinese traveler just looks for a place to sleep over while visiting the surrounding area. Only the front desk that takes in and checks out guest, therefore, they are the ONLY one who takes MAJOR credit cards for payment. The restaurants ONLY DEAL with cash. They do not have international credit card machines to take information electronically for payment on credit, thus, the prices are very reasonable so bring enough cash with you when you leave your hotel room. ||||The Bank of Canton is only 2 blocks away. They can convert your country's...

Everything about this hotel is just plain old and was due for a renovation 10 years ago, right from the lobby up until we walked into our room.||||The bathroom is old, making it look dirty, and just doesn't look appealing the eye. Bathroom tiles and the white sealing between the tiles are browning or turning black, and mirrors are chipped. Hairdryer is mounted on the wall and is super old school and not strong at all - plus it heats up in your hand. I had to wear slippers at all times because the floor looked so dirty. ||||Service wasn't great either. We booked this hotel way in advance for three people, but they never had the room ready with three beds. We had to walk into our room to find out only two beds were set up and had to call them to bring a third bed up. They did this twice as we had to check in twice at this hotel as we were staying in another city in between days in Guangzhou.||||Even with the price you're paying, I'm sure you can find a better hotel that's at least renovated...

We stayed 5 nights for a family visit, our room was facing the river and offered good views, especially at night. Thought the age of the hotel, the room was clean and tidy so was the bathroom which had a new toilet. There was some minor mould in the bathroom but nothing major, the taps are in need to be replaced. As the water is not to drink bottled water would be appreciated. The beds are stiff but still comfortable, the furniture seen better times but functional, internet supplied and Wifi is moderate (unsecured). Nice walkway along the river for a stroll, boat trips available and recommended, bike hire available in short distance of hotel. Good dining out in walking distance around the hotel. Short trip with taxi to subway station so is shopping mall in Beiing Road.||Breakfast in the hotel restaurant is good, but the service is missing the smile. Staff speaks limited or no english.||All in all, worth a stay and reasonable...