Grand Soluxe Hotel — Hotel in Jiuquan

My mom and I were on holidays in West China and booked this hotel on Agoda due to its 5 star status. I would rate this hotel as 3.5 stars, although the room is 4 stars. Tripadvisor rates it at 4 stars, which is closer to reality, however I wouldn't even rate it that high. Here are my ratings: ||||Lobby: 4 - Lobby has marble flooring and nice tiling, however has little stands that detract from a 5 star look. Reception area is cluttered, with concierge often absent. ||||Room: 3 - The room could be 5 stars with just a little more care. We were in one room in which the bathroom needed grout as there were blackened areas that obviously were old. Water pressure is very minimal and we had an issue running a bath as it literally took 20 min to run a bath. The hottest water was warm at best, so by the time the bath was half full, it was lukewarm and unpleasant. The bed was firm, which I like, however we only received one sleeping pillow and one decorative pillow when every hotel upper level hotel gives you at least 2 pillows per bed. Wifi was a pain as we needed a Chinese number to login to the wifi (Citywide wifi), which the hotel helped us do, however the hotel really should have its own wifi. We did have a lovely view of the river, however we switched rooms to one with marginally better water flow (still had issues getting hot water) and I do think that the rooms facing the city are brighter. The room facing the river was very dark. Amenities in the room are outdated and minimal and at the price, I would think a remodel is in order. Because of the issues with the water pressure, minimal amenities, and unrefurbished room, I rate the room as a 3. ||||Breakfast: 3 - For a Chinese hotel, breakfast was not the worst, not the best. There were lots of vegetable options, but no cereals and western foods like cheese, baguettes, and scrambled eggs. ||||Location: 4 - I think this was a good location, however I think anything in the city is going to be pretty close to the Crescent Lake and Mogao Grotto. We hired a private driver that took us to Crescent Lake (5 min away), Mogao Grotto (10 min), and the landforms (2 hours). ||||Service: 4 - Mixed bag here. Pretty much no staff except the manager speak English and as is often the case in China, English comprehension is very poor. My mom speaks Chinese and the manager went out of his way to help us, including organizing the private driver (which unfortunately, wasn't a great experience as well, however that is irrelevant to this review), meeting us at the airport, and letting us use the pool and it's shower at the end of the day after we had checked out. I just wanted to shower after a hot day at Mogar caves so I did not use the pool, but the pool also wasn't impressive--reminding me of an American public pool. The locker room was miniscule, with two showers and barely any space to change. ||||Overall I would recommend looking at a more modern hotel which may have less amenities, but at least you can be sure of basic amenities like hot water. By no means did I have a horrible experience, but it was very average for a hotel that proudly touts itself as the only 5 star hotel...

It was very hot so we switched from another five star hotel to this one because this had a good swimming pool. We actually took a small tour of hotels with swimming pools listed for Dunhuang in trip advisor and found this to be the only serviceable one. One hotel even said they had one but didn't. Another had a giant soviet era swimming pool that was only kept half filled which looked a little dangerous for our young kids as they would need to negotiate the wall to get in and out. Soluxe's pool was a typical indoor pool similarly found in other luxury hotels throughout China.||Other good things about this hotel included clean and relatively large good rooms. Ours had a view of the canal with the distant dunes behind it. Very friendly front desk staff and the type of concierge that volunteered good information on what to do around town. The neighbouring canal had kids boat rides. Also, it was a fairly short walk to the centre of the town that had a good night market with a very useful indoor mall (across the street from the night market). A/c, wifi, water, satellite TV, and room safe all worked well. Easy to get taxis to take you to train station, caves, and dunes.||Worst thing was the breakfast buffet that was neither good for western or Chinese fair. Not the worst we experienced on this trip but far from the best.||Lots of new big hotels being built. A couple of them look like they will be pretty nice. But until they are ready, this hotel should continue to be the most practical luxury option. For certain, there is a very romantic hotel closer to the dunes with beautiful views over the desert. However, the best part, it's roof top restaurant, welcomes guests of other hotels. It also had no pool and in the summer, Dunhuang can sizzle. Nothing better then taking the family for a dip in the pool after spending the day playing around in the desert or...

Centrally located so that you are within walking distance to the shops, restaurants and night market. Exterior of the hotel is nice. Interior is above average. Rooms are good size with a nice bathroom. The shower heads are not the best and should be replaced in some rooms. Water came out of only about 1/3 of the holes. The staff speak very little English so it can be a bit challenging. We had s guide help us exchange money which was great. The manager was very helpful in getting us on wifi. Not very fast but good enough for checking emails and a little more. Only one nonsmoking floor so it is tough to get a room on that floor. We did not, but thankfully it did not smell bad. Food in the restaurant is pretty good. We had pasta for dinner one night. Breakfast has some western selections, mostly Chinese. Because of the location I...