Ganghui Four Seasons Hotel Apartment (Dalian Railway Station Zhongshan Square)

The location was good, the room was spacious, and the price was low. But the moment we walked in, I saw bugs. The listing had looked pleasant and roomy in the photos, the reviews seemed good, and I’d booked a two-bed room, with one bed in the living room and another in the bedroom, for three nights at around 100,000 won, under 110,000 won. The cigarette smell kept getting stronger as time passed. It was hard on me as a non-smoker and even my friend, who smokes, found it difficult. It wasn’t an ordinary fresh cigarette smell, but a stale, heavy odor. Opening the window didn’t clear it. We were on the 16th floor, so I didn’t think it could be drifting in from outside, but when I went to close the window, I noticed the bottom of the screen was torn open by about 1 cm. It wasn’t just a small hole, the adhesive along the bottom edge seemed completely ripped off. The smell made it hard to breathe. Less than an hour after checking in, I reported the problem and said we wanted to check out. I understood their explanation that the room charge couldn’t be refunded and that we could get our deposit back, so I asked to leave. They wouldn’t let us check out, saying they had inspected the room and found neither cigarette odor nor bugs, and we went back to the room together. They scoffed when I said there was a smoke smell, then sent a translated message through WeChat. Without even looking, they mocked us again and asked where the bugs were. They kept snorting as if we were lying or being too sensitive. I said I understood the fee was non-refundable, but we wanted to leave and find somewhere else to sleep right away. They kept putting off checkout and said they would show us another room. It took about 40 minutes before they finally let me check out, and we moved to another accommodation. I still don’t understand why they kept refusing when I had accepted that the room charge wouldn’t be returned. When they offered to show us a better room, we didn’t get into the elevator with them. We said we were tired from vacation and wanted to check into another place immediately. They only reluctantly let me leave after I specifically asked. I’ve traveled in Taiwan, Japan, Russia, the Philippines, the US, Canada, and Eastern Europe, and I’m not someone who has ever complained about accommodation. I could have put up with one bug, but the cigarette stench was suffocating. The bed in the living room was hard as stone, too. Please check that your deposit refund has been processed when you check out. They said they would return it to its original form, as shown in the photo, but it still hadn’t been processed by 4 PM on the scheduled checkout day. It was only done after I asked. The money can take 2-3 days to arrive, but with Alipay the refund notification appears right away, so check for that. For context, we used ChatGPT to translate our inquiry, and the front desk translated and sent messages through WeChat, so only the accommodation’s speech bubbles are visible.