Country Garden Phenix Hotel — Hotel in Zhangjiajie

This hotel is more like a palace. It is full of marble and the entrance lobby and hall way is adorned with amazing painted ceilings. This hotel is nestled near the hills and about 30 minutes from the train station. There is nothing else around the hotel so again if you want to eat you need to get a taxi into town which is 25-30mins away. The rooms are very spacious and simply decorated rooms. After checking in we decided to check out the swimming pool which turned out to be a challenge. Firstly you needed hats (strange because the pool was dirty). Straight away had to speak to someone about smoking (stood next to a no smoking sign). Did not stay in the pool long and upon returning to change the changing room was like a smoking room something I absolutely hate in China. The indoor pool looked green so did not venture in there. In fact I made a comment and shortly after they started cleaning it. As we were tired we decided to sample the in house buffet which sadly was very poor and not worth the money. The first evening we were given free tickets to a magic show which my children really enjoyed. Breakfast was a chaotic event every morning and the selection caters for Chinese not western. There would be plenty to go around if it were not for uneducated people who take a whole plate of custard tarts or 8-10 eggs. Even my wife was disgusted by these and she is Chinese. The service was poor waiting 30 minutes for a coffee is a joke. In addition to people persistently smoke everywhere (a real issue in China.) House keeping were good our rooms we always cleaned and they folded the clothes. As we wanted to explore Zhangjiajie we decided to opt for the in house travel agent. We organised a guide and a 3 day private tour just for our family. I certainly recommend the company and the price was not expensive for a private tour. There is no way you could stay in such a hotel for this price anywhere in Europe. The hotel collects you from the airport or station if you...

This hotel is more like a palace. It is full of marble and the entrance lobby and hall way is adorned with amazing painted ceilings. This hotel is nestled near the hills and about 30 minutes from the train station. There is nothing else around the hotel so again if you want to eat you need to get a taxi into town which is 25-30mins away. The rooms are very spacious and simply decorated rooms. After checking in we decided to check out the swimming pool which turned out to be a challenge. Firstly you needed hats (strange because the pool was dirty). Straight away had to speak to someone about smoking (stood next to a no smoking sign). Did not stay in the pool long and upon returning to change the changing room was like a smoking room something I absolutely hate in China. The indoor pool looked green so did not venture in there. In fact I made a comment and shortly after they started cleaning it. As we were tired we decided to sample the in house buffet which sadly was very poor and not worth the money. The first evening we were given free tickets to a magic show which my children really enjoyed. Breakfast was a chaotic event every morning and the selection caters for Chinese not western. There would be plenty to go around if it were not for uneducated people who take a whole plate of custard tarts or 8-10 eggs. Even my wife was disgusted by these and she is Chinese. The service was poor waiting 30 minutes for a coffee is a joke. In addition to people persistently smoke everywhere (a real issue in China.) House keeping were good our rooms we always cleaned and they folded the clothes. As we wanted to explore Zhangjiajie we decided to opt for the in house travel agent. We organised a guide and a 3 day private tour just for our family. I certainly recommend the company and the price was not expensive for a private tour. There is no way you could stay in such a hotel for this price anywhere in Europe. The hotel collects you from the airport or station if you...

The hotel is huge and looks impressive, We were on a tour group and unfortunately were assigned rooms that were so far from the front desk and dining area. We have to walk more than a length of a football just to have our breakfast, It seems there is only one dining room for breakfast||Having breakfast is a chaos. For a big dining room that serves a few hundred pax, there is only one egg station, one drink station, one toaster and one station for food.||To make it worst, most pax are from tour groups who need to have a hurried breakfast before starting the day of touring.||We were also quite unfortunate to meet unruly pax who cut queues and jostle for food. They mess up the food trays and do not respect the use of dedicated food tongs. Food is not replenished quick enough. Food trays were pile on top of chafing trays. This already spoils our appetite. After one breakfast, we had to forgo breakfast at this dining room for the next three mornings.||Some of our husbands needed a massage after strenuous walking and climbing. When they made their booking for services, the staff peered into their wallets, When the wives returned to their rooms, the husbands were offered sex. This is...