Crystal Orange

The hotel is cheap by Western standards and the rooms are clean. The lobby and room initially look like four-star quality, but using the place brought the experience down to three stars, with housekeeping and facilities closer to a two-star Super8 Motel. We stayed for three days in mid-April and had two rooms. The rooms themselves were clean and modern, but the wiring was haphazard. The main switch beside the bed cuts all the power, so at night you can't turn on the bathroom light without switching everything back on, including the room lights that are always on. There were also visible spliced 220V wiring junctions. Both rooms had a faint but unmistakable cigarette smell, with an ashtray and complimentary matches in the corner. The hotel said that was standard. The keycards barely worked, often taking more than ten tries. On the second day we were locked out. Staff said the system automatically locks the hotel card after day one as the standard stay, even though scanning our cards showed a three-day booking. It still locked us out. At checkout, the receptionist stopped halfway through and returned to playing an online competitive shooting game on her phone. There was no AC for most of the year, we were told. During our stay it was 75F through the day, but staff said that wasn't considered hot for the area and that AC wouldn't be allowed for another month or two. Sleeping at night and napping during the day were terrible. Even US motels let you turn on AC when you want. The room design also felt like it could double as a love hotel. Condoms were openly sold in the room, and the shower's clear glass was visible from the main room. There was a cover, but it was slightly transparent, and the shower light cast a shadow on the mat even when the cover was lowered. We ended up showering in the dark. Housekeeping reused towels we'd left on the bathtub, refolding and putting them back while they were still damp. They also seemed to skimp on shampoo and body wash. After we used 60% of a bottle the first night, new-looking bottles appeared the next day. They turned out to be our scattered bottles from the tub, refilled with water and placed on the counter with the labels facing out to look new. The elevators felt unsafe too. They close quickly, and pressing the sides as they close doesn't trigger them to reopen. They kept closing even with our hands in the middle.