Hangzhou Xinqiao Hotel

Location was good - that is what you are paying for. Close to west lake. In a retail district. Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Costa coffee across the road if desperate. Enough English spoken for it to be manageable

On arrival, they couldn't find our booking (had read of someone else having this happen). No problem- we were placed in a standard room at the agreed rate. The room had a very unusual layout. The entrance corridor doubled as part of the bathroom. The basin/mirror etc was in the corridor. Separate toilet opened off the corridor as did shower cubicle. In other words, step out of shower and on to bath mat in the corridor. Not sure what the architect was thinking because there was room to have done a conventional bathroom. Light switches were unusual - not the usual down for on and up for off. This was more in the nature of a push button - press to turn on and press again to turn off. No big deal until you inadvertently press the master switch. Then the whole room is in darkness. Press again and nothing happens - go round and turn each light on individually again. Fascinating choice by the electrical designer. The buffet restaurant was cavernous. Room for hundreds. The ambience was a little spoiled by the same two songs playing on endless repeat. One song was ok. The other song, a jaunty little number with children singing to twanging strings and crashing cymbals (that will be familiar to China regulars) was guaranteed to wake you up ready to start the day - over and over and over.... Breakfast was good Chinese and almost non-existent Western. Second morning we decided to have an easy start and rocked up for breakfast at 9:30 (breakfast closes at 10:00). Look of horror from the staff as they were well in to clearing the buffet away. Sausages already gone so that left pretty much just the Chinese options. We grabbed some food and watched as the coffee machine was dismantled and the rest of the buffet continued to be cleared away. It was pretty much all gone when we left at 9:50.