Suzhou Blue Gate Youth Hostel — Hotel in Suzhou City

NOTE: ITS RENAMED Suzhou Blue Gate Youth Hostel. You get what you pay for BUT here you get a very nice/helpful/honest owner who speaks good English (I don’t think her parents speak any though) and will help you in any way she can – that can be worth a lot if you DON’T speak Chinese. The location is also good as it’s a couple of minutes’ walk from the nearest metro station – just look for a door leading to stairs right by a local burger chain outlet that’s below the hostel. ||||Otherwise and since you are only paying $5-6 a night, don’t expect a real mattress here as it’s basically just a thin cushion on the beds. There are two toilets (one squat and the other western) and two showers for all the dorm rooms – this wouldn’t be enough in the hot summer or if everyone woke up at once and wanted a morning shower (so plan accordingly). Hot water was hot enough and the place was clean by Chinese hostel standards, but there was not always toilet paper in the toilets. There is a water dispenser downstairs for hot/cold water and I am sure you can ask the owner to borrow a glass/mug. ||||Internet generally worked well here even with VPN in the lounge area as I could upload a lot of pictures. However, some of the wall plugs (including the one above my bed) were a bit shoddy or loose as I could not always plug something in and keep it charged/charging. ||||If you don’t read Chinese, the area can be a bit of a wasteland for food. You will need to walk over to the Pingjiang Lu (Road) area where there are more foreign tourists (as even the central shopping area of the city doesn’t seem to have places with menus in English or pictures – unless you want Pizza Hut/KFC as they are on every street corner). There is an old tea house called Pin Von (can be googled) on that road along the canal with a good menu (the order form is Chinese/English) as well as one with pictures/English. There are also lots of snack places on that road with the offerings being straight forward. I did not eat breakfast at the hostel nor dinner – I think you need to tell the owner early if you want them to make something.||||Otherwise, the owner is very nice/nice. She accidently throughout my bathroom soap that I left in a bag hanging from the bunk above me to dry; and when I asked if convenience stores nearby or if she sold some since I could not find mine, she apologized for having thrown it away by mistake and gave me another one! She also checked the train schedules/seat availability on her phone for me (the site is in Chinese) and told me how to visit Tongli (I think the new subway line going there ended up opening the day after I...

I had a family room with two friends for a one-night stay. There were towels and linen included in our deal. The bed and blanket were comfortable and soft when compared to Chinese standards. There was a big heater in the room also, which was enough to keep us warm during the night. We had our own bathroom and shower, which turned out to be a good choice. We checked out the shared toilet and shower facilities (meant for the dorm room customers) and they seemed to be a bit small in size. ||||We experienced only two negative things during our stay. When checking in around noon, we were said that we'd get our room maybe around 3-5 pm, although the booking site said that check-in is possible at noon. Not a big deal though - we could leave our luggage to the reception and go enjoy the sights as planned. Another issue was that we woke up in the middle of the night to other (perhaps drunk) customers' noises. Sound-proofing is non-existent. ||||Overall this is a good budget choice in a great location in older Suzhou. The four stars I gave is relative to the price: it was good value for the money. ||||Actually the name is Blue Gate Hostel as indicated by the sign on the front door...

Stayed 4 nights in dorm roomExpectation/Reality: the room was not the same as the picture. Although after 2 nights I was offered to change to the rooms which matched the pictures.Security: the initial room had low security. Open dorm and the lockers were easily opened. Not secure without additional precautions.Hygiene: average for Chinese hostel, generally okay and acceptable. Not great, but not terrible.Hospitality: seems like one person is responsible for everything. She was very responsive and nice.Social Atmosphere: okay area to socialize but no obvious hostel organized activities. Space is good however, board games, beers and coffee available.Overall, the location is the main selling point, close to a convenient metro and to many attractions. Average on comfort, low on security, generally adequate for a...