Suzhou Jinling Guanyuan International Hotel — Hotel in Suzhou City

This is a new hotel (it opened early in 2011) situated close to the Higher Education Town on the edge of Dushu Lake, Suzhou. Indeed, it's so new that most of the taxi drivers have never heard of it so be sure to carry a map showing its location. The Jinling Guanyuan International Hotel clearly has ambitions to be a leading establishment in Suzhou and the quality of the 'fixtures and fittings' is very high. However, the staff are still settling in and will need some further training before they are all up to the standards found in major western internation hotels. Curiously, the lack of slickness was quite endearing - instead of the usual anodyne service there was a real sense of enthusiasm in most of the staff that more than compensated for any gaucheness. According to its website, the hotel is an 'European styled 5-star Hotel'. However, it is very much a Chinese take on European hotels. For example, the restaurant only serves chinese delicacies ('Braised ox dick and turtle skirt soup', anyone?) and taking them up on their claim to serve western snacks in the lobby bar caused a bit of a panic. The random tunes played on the automated piano are also bizarre to western ears and also, I suspect, to Chinese ones. I'm sure these teething problems will pass as the hotel becomes more established. The website says that the hotel is 'dedicated to creating a cozy and even romantically comfortable atmosphere for all its guests'. I think this is partially achieved in the rooms but the lobby looks a bit spartan to my eyes - a few more chairs and settees would be welcome to break up the vast space and allow more guests to sit down while waiting for their transport. In summary, if you have business in the Higher Education Town, this is worth serious consideration and should get even...

As a westerner staying here for several nights I was pleased to return to Shanghai. However this is not to say that the hotel is of a poor standard, but rather there are few concessions to western tastes. The hotel is relatively isolated which means there are few alternatives and distractions. Compared to other provincial hotels I have used in China this is modern and of a high standard. Comfortable and with a remarkably large bedroom with tea making facilities. Dining offers few concessions to western tastes, if dried fried goose wings or finless eel soup doesn't appeal for dinner, then I found the mushroom soup, Spring rolls, fried noodles and sweet and sour pork with pineapple to be pleasant. Breakfast offers cereals, bread and pastries and French toast and eggs together with tea and coffee. There is also of course the usual local selection of local breakfast items, all meals are taken in a large, functional and soulless dining room. The hotel is very near the Dushu lakes library, to the right, and a few minutes walk to the left as you exit the hotel are some banks with ATMs and one even has ground floor coffee and snack bar. I was fine here for my stay, but just have a a preference for a more western oriented hotel. Internet is available by Ethernet cable and...

We stayed there for 2 nights during the Chinese New Year holiday.||Brand new state owned hotel built to 5-star standard. Located in Suzhou Industrial Park. If you are not driving, it can be far as there is nothing nearby.||||Room was spacious. Beds were comfortable. Towels were new and fluffy. Amenities were adequate. ||||Breakfast wasn't fantastic. Bread looked a little stale. Ham was a suspicious reddish pink hue like what you would see in most local establishments. Apple juice was not only from cans, it was carbonated. Very odd as a breakfast beverage. Didn't dare to try the coffee. Stuck with safer local choices of congee and stirred fried noodle. My toddler liked the fried dough enough.||||We stayed in many 5-star hotels in different parts of China, both locally and internationally managed. This is one of the rare ones that wanted to charge us for drinking water in room. ||||Overall, value for money (