Yangshuo Dragon River Retreat — Hotel in Guilin

We were two couples, we stayed for four nights in the superior "balcony" rooms at DRR in May 2014. The price was excellent. I chose the DRR from the reviews here on TA saying that the staff was so helpful. Yes, the staff were amazing. They were SO helpful. Jasmine, the manager, helped us so much with our daily outings. The gals that made us breakfast and dinner were so sweet. And yet, what I had not realized when booking this hotel is that the river here takes a sharp turn and goes away from the road and hotel. You can hear it.. but you cannot see it. If you like setting on your balcony and enjoying the view around you, then pay a bit more and stay next door at the Mountain Retreat. I am sure their staff is lovely as well. || If you do stay at this hotel, be especially leery of the rooms ending in 10. We had 2808, our friends had 2810. The view from our room was pretty good, or as good as it gets at this hotel, but our friends room had a huge electric pole right smack in front of the balcony ruining it all! There room price was the same as ours..no break in the fee due to the ugly pole. || The resort offers free bicycles for your use. We did use the bicycles, problem was, they were mostly in very bad condition. It took us nearly an hour to find four in good enough working order and with seats we could bear to set on, as most of them are very skinny and hard. They are kept outside under a tent cover and in that humidity they take a major hit as they don't appear to be regularly maintained. || As for the included breakfast, it is good but no choices. You can have western or asian. We choose western everyday. They said asian was noodle soup. Western was eggs, bacon, yogurt, and a "baguettee". You were charged for the second cup of coffee and they were small. (they also gave us a beautiful map of the area for each room, but upon asking for a second map per room, there was a charge. Two very small waters per room per day for free, after that a charge, and in fact we had to ask for those, the maids did not leave them). || We ate dinner there two evenings and the food was really very good and we thought a reasonable price. It would have been a pain to go find food elsewhere late in the evening as you are really too far out to go anyplace except next door to the Mountain Retreat. Mind that the dining area has no view of anything. tip: we had several mixed drinks there and we must say that even though it is extremely small there "frozen margarita" was exceptionally good!|| We found the room to be clean, beds comfortable, shower acceptable with decent water pressure and plenty of hot water. They have an electric water heating pot in the room, but only tea provided. Other places we stayed in China offered small packets of Nescafe with cream and sugar packets. This would have been nice to set and have coffee early on the balcony. I don't think they have many western tourists here. || Knowing what I know now, I would not stay here again, but only because of the Retreats compromised location in comparison to the better situated Mountain Retreat next door. If you cannot afford a "view" room next door at the Mountain Retreat, then I would stay here in one of their view rooms. It is indeed quite a lot less expensive. So what...

People really need to know what they are signing up for when they book this hotel. I dont want to write negative reviews but i guess that is the whole point of trip advisor. to get to hear it straight and not promo info from a hotel website. ||||So......||||If you have a hire car then its not so bad a location to be able to get around the Yangshuo area and main attractions. Its located down a long and winding unlit path (not really a road) that makes access to transport difficult. The shuttle bus from the hotel to the main 'west street' ceases early. Its not on the river. I had a hire car and have driven in china many times (i live here) but be warned that its like the wild west on the roads there. dont expect people to observe the lines. They drive with main beam and fog lights on at night. be ready for this if deciding to hire a car. main form of local transport is the tricycle that are reasonably priced.||||We had mold on the pillows in the room, the shower hardly worked, the fridge was tiny and hardly cold, sheets not changed and bed not made, just folded back over. You can only have one room key meaning the AC and and a device you might want to charge up has a problem. Toilet paper goes in an open top bin aside the toilet.This is not so unusual in Asia but for a hotel billed as 4 star it was a disappointment.||||They allow guests to smoke in the reception/lobby/dining area. ||||The staff were always nice and helpful. A well stocked bar at reasonable prices and offer western food too. But try the chinese food on offer. much better in my opinion. ||||Its remoteness makes it a good place to relax but nothing there in terms of facilities like a pool, gym etc. Read a big book, sleep and rest assured. Watch a movie (DVD Player in the room)||||The internet service was terrible. ||||For the money, there are better...

As a family group we had 3 rooms in this hotel, arranged by our travel agent because Mountain Retreat next door was fully booked. ||||Despite their proximity to each other, these are 2 quite different hotels. Dragon River retreat is not on the river whereas Mountain Retreat's best feature is the scenic Yulong river. In my opinion,the best feature of DRR is it's proximity to the other hotel where we walked to for drinks and dinner.||||When we checked in there was no bell boy to help with luggage, and as there are no lifts we carried our own luggage to the first floor rooms. Do not take room 3810 as a large electricity pole is located outside the balcony. Rooms were not well cleaned, unused towels were wet and although the hotel is fairly new, metal fittings in the bathroom were rusty. The room safe lies on the floor and one has to lie flat to read instructions. ||||The staff speak relatively good English, and are helpful but seem to be very busy and often on the phone. The breakfast is moderate, but I wouldn't really...