Nanlin Hotel — Hotel in Suzhou City

This hotel is a traditional Chinese hotel in a typical Suzhou setting with gardens. It was originally built by the communist party to receive out of country state dignitaries and high ranking Chinese officials when visiting Suzhou. Since that time it has become a popular inexpensive hotel for tourists and visitors to the Suzhou University "old" campus. It is a short walk to the campus through the old part of the city. Suzhou is an beautiful city that is remarkably quiet by not only Chinese but North American standards. The streets are lined with trees and it is very pleasant to walk around the old city and some local gardens. The hotel garden is very nice - an enclave just off the street. The rooms in the hotel are dark and the furniture is very tired. There is no local control of the temperature but there is a large window that can be opened with a screen to allow it to be open over night. While apparently the smoking rules have changed, the rooms smell of smoke - even the non smoking ones. The breakfast is a large buffet is a plus - great variety of Asian and Western choices - with good coffee too!! Very inexpensive and many tour groups said seem...

This hotel has some great things going for it. I found the rooms quiet and comfortable if not a bit tired in decor. The buffet breakfast was fantastic. The grounds include a landscaped courtyard with ponds and walkways where the birds collect and sing. You leave street noise behind when you enter the property. We didn't need air conditioning for our trip. ||The stairwell has low level windows that open, so beware if you have children. The hallways and stairs were even more tired than the rooms. ||What is wrong with this hotel really has to do with how they handled our bus tour. They rented roughly 25 rooms to our group and when we left they accused us of taking a couple of face clothes and a hamper liner. For starts, so what? Secondly, their service was not perfect. One room was not cleaned during our two night stay. One room did not receive complimentary bottled water during our stay. These things are not something we would complain about if we weren't accused job stealing face clothes. This sort of petty nonsense is why the hotel doesn't...

I just returned from a concert tour of China with my choir. The hotel was booked by the tour company and I absolutely would not stay there again. The location is good: walk out to a high end shopping street, but the rooms are not good. They are small and extremely dark. The hotel has a problem with humidity and the door to my room did not close properly due to the wood frame swelling. During my 2 day stay my iPad was stolen from my room. It was charging on the desk not in the safe. The hotel security people supposedly watched the video surveillance footage and claimed only the maid and I went in the room. I have never had a problem like this before. The room decor is tired, but it does have a fridge and tea kettle. The lobby bar was manned by 2 people who had to consult a recipe book to make a Manhattan that was listed on their own drinks menu. (Do not drink the house wine it is vile). The breakfast buffet was very good with lots of delicious dishes to please both eastern and...