Sino Trade Centre Guangzhou — Hotel in Guangzhou City

After my horrid experience at Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong/Kowloon, I was delighted to find a good hotel with lots of room, a huge bed and good bathroom. The staff was mixed. ||||The morning staff, in particular Kevin, was great and spoke good English. The afternoon staff spoke hardly any and it was very difficult to communicate. One of them actually called one of the morning staffers to speak with me. I suggested later that they ought to have one of the morning staff work the afternoon shift so that those who use English as a travel language (like almost everyone in the world -- Europe, South America, Africa and other parts of Asia) can be better served. ||||The area was okay, not really central, but near a major park and a few restaurants and sightseeing highlights, e.g. an emperor's tomb and Sun Yat-Sen memorial. Taxis were cheap and I was able to go to the lively Beijing Lu street promenade easily. ||||Naturally, this being China, no Facebook or Google, but you can get a VPN to bypass all this. TV had no major channels, but CGTN (China English Network) was surprisingly balanced and provided good world news. ||||When I left (very early at 6 a.m. to catch a flight) the overnight staff quickly checked me out of the hotel and helped get me a taxi. All in all, except for the afternoon staff English shortcomings,...

The staff is mostly friendly, however,none of the staff really looked up to greet the guests, which I think is very important. I had the feeling that they avoided having conversations in English and therefore rather looked busy than communicating. Every time we had a question it was a journey to even get our point across. We had to switch rooms because they cleaned our entire floor. They told us the morning of, and asked us if we move now or after breakfast. We were okay with it but I feel like this could have discussed the night before. Someone could have called us. The restaurant served decent food, the restaurant staff was hilarious and tried their best to help us if we had any questions. However it was very very cold, which I was told was because of the winter Guangzhou didn't expect so the heating system wasn't working properly. The room was cozy and warm, clean and nothing to complain about. ||If you know your way around and don't need any help from anyone this hotel is a great place. Across the street is a lovely restaurant as well. But if you are new and have many questions, but don't speak Chinese, pick an international...

We started off with a very ordinary hotel in Guangzhou where the breakfast was inedible. We searched for another hotel and came across the Sino and checked in yesterday and are delighted that we moved. On checking in early our room wasn’t clean so they kindly upgraded us. Room has everything we could want and is very clean (my wife is a Capricorn clean freak and she couldn’t fault it). Biggest bonus 24/7 massage on 3rd floor - clean and efficient and the she who must be obeyed loved the hour long foot massage AUS $17 and looks like we will be back there tonight again. Just had breakfast and it was very simple but tasty and ticked the boxes. Definitely feel like we are getting good value and would definitely come back...