JI Hotel Guangzhou Tianhe East Railway Station

Our rooms were clean and spacious, and the staff were helpful and friendly, including the cleaner. We didn't know how to use WeChat to order a Didi, but they patiently showed us. They also answered all the questions we had.

The location is fantastic, and the room feels modern and quite nice. The hotel also provides good facilities. Our standard room was on the 7th floor, though, and had a bathroom smell plus a strong cigarette odor. With the room facing the main road, traffic noise was an issue too. We moved to the 14th floor, where the smoke smell was much less, though we could still hear the road. I'd bring earplugs and book a deluxe room on a higher floor.

The location worked really well for our weekend trip to Shenzhen. The high speed trains were easy to get to, the metro's F exit is right next door, and ordering cars through DiDi was simple. Across the road, Po Park has plenty of places to eat and shop, including an Aeon supermarket, Tao Tao Ju and Chua Lam dim sum stores. We were there for four nights and changed rooms twice. Our first room, on the 9th floor, was a good size and had a huge TV and a pillow menu, but a broken window latch meant we couldn't shut the window. We faced Guangzhou East railway station, where taxis and cars were constantly jostling in long queues, so the honking went on into the early morning. The next room was on the 11th floor, facing inward toward another building. It was a little smaller than what we'd booked and paid for, but seemed fine until a strong cigarette smell started coming through the aircon vents at night. We'd checked before booking that the hotel was non-smoking, but that didn't stop people smoking in their rooms. My wife has asthma and started wheezing badly, even after several puffs of her inhaler. When a staff member came up, she said she could see smoke drifting out of our open door. We were shocked when she said there was nothing they could do to stop guests smoking in their rooms, despite the non-smoking policy. She did move us quickly to another room on the 11th floor. That room was smoke-free, but hammering and pounding from renovations in a room upstairs started early in the morning. Guests can use the free clothes washers and drying machines on the 6th and 19th floors. They also provide lots of bottled water in the rooms and lobby, where hot and iced tea are available freely. There's a Chinese tea set in the room, but no mini fridge or safe. The wifi is connected to the room TV, so leave it on; otherwise it switches to the general hotel network, which isn't secure. There aren't any small face towels by the sink, so bring your own.

The rooms were very clean and huge, and they topped up eight bottles of water and the amenities, including toothbrushes, every day. I asked for a non-smoking room, a high floor to avoid road noise, and no corner room, and they granted all of it. The staff were really nice, and they let us send Taobao parcels to the front desk for collection. Security guards and robots also brought our food deliveries to the door. Lin Hui kindly let me check out at 2pm instead of noon because my flight was late. It was easy to get around from here, with the Metro right beside the hotel and the railway station opposite. I took a convenient day trip to Shenzhen. Across the road, the large underground PO park mall has lots of good eateries and bubble tea brands. This was easily my best hotel stay, and I'd recommend it.