Where to begin...usually I don’t like to leave negative reviews (and never have done before) but feel I ought to relay my experience here to help others avoid this place. I checked in on the 17th Jan for 4 nights, and was most surprised by the frosty reception received from the two ladies at the reception desk. I had been expecting the usual welcoming reception after 3.5 weeks of travelling in Myanmar. Not a hello, not a smile, in fact not even any eye contact. One silently took my passport that I had put on the desk to photocopy, and the other told me to pay for the entire stay upfront. (Only time I came across this in Myanmar). I received no information about breakfast or anything else. I had booked a superior room and was allocated a room on the 1st floor. The stale smell was overpowering. The room was covered in layers of dirt, was dusty and badly maintained, and had lots of squashed mosquitoes all over the walls. Towels seemed very old and also smelt dreadful. WiFi was bad. Breakfast had no Asian vegetarian options except on one occasion fried rice, and on another cold French fries. So I was stuck with toast, a croissant, or a banana every day. The location of this hotel I found to be awful. It’s just off a main road with about 6 lanes of traffic, which makes crossing it very difficult as the traffic is 24/7. Did not see any other tourists on the streets, and the area is generally very run down. It is outside the city centre and takes a long time to get there with the heavy traffic. One evening it took me an hour in a taxi. I walked around the local area anyway, in several directions, to find the ‘many restaurants’ that were supposedly nearby. There were some very rustic looking places to eat, but none looked like the type of place you could eat at without risking possible stomach issues. So, having had food poisoning in Bagan, I ate in the hotel to be safe. Food was overpriced, and just ok bordering on bad. They then add 15% taxes which you aren’t charged in the vast majority of restaurants. Also, once you have paid this stupid price, the lady may say to you ‘no change, ok?’ when they have no change available! I left some laundry for housekeeping: 7 t-shirts, 1 vest and 1 shirt. It was returned to me smelling of that awful stale smell the rooms had - basically in worse condition than it was in the first place, and had most decidedly not been cleaned to an acceptable standard. The hotel laundry prices are of course, ridiculous. I sent the laundry back, and it was again returned the next day still not clean, so I had to wash most items by hand in the sink. On check out, housekeeping had filled in that I had left in 7 blouses, which resulted in the price being increased by 6,500 kyats. Luckily I had taken a photo of the docket I filled in, and showed the staff. I pointed out that there was only 1 shirt, and all of the others were (size small) cotton t-shirts, and they had short capped sleeves. Apparently ‘it is not depending on the sleeves’. Right. So I asked what qualifies as a t-shirt but they were unable to tell me. Housekeeping was called out to reception and a 15 minute long discussion ensued between the three staff, with the housekeeper arguing that my t-shirts were blouses. I told him that I know my own clothes and that I would be paying the price as per my docket, which was 14,500. They finally revised the bill to 15,000. The whole thing was just handled so unprofessionally. I was starting to really lose patience at this point as I was 15 mins late for my airport transfer. I told them I would pay the 15,000 kyats in the same currency, but they converted it to dollars. I checked the exchange rate, and of course they had inflated it, and would only permit me to pay their high rate in dollars. This situation was again handled very badly. ||The only plus points for this hotel were: my bed was comfortable and the hotel was quiet, I slept well. (Possibly due to travellers more sensible than myself staying elsewhere.) Also, the porter at the hotel was very pleasant and helpful. He would come up with mosquito spray for the room and help with booking taxis or with any other general queries. Taxis were readily available. If you’re still reading this, in my opinion, this hotel is to be avoided at all costs. I wish I had paid a little more to stay in the city centre. If you choose to stay at Hotel Yankin they’ll find ways to extract the additional money from you in other ways anyway, so you may as well pay more and have a nice central hotel with...
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