Hangzhou Tower Hotel

This was easily the worst of the 8 hotels I stayed at on my China trip, and it cost more than places in the same city that were much better. I wouldn’t stay here again. The gym was tiny and unusable: one poorly maintained weights machine that squeaked and didn’t feel safe, an unstable treadmill, and broken air conditioning. All the recreation rooms had become musty-smelling storage spaces, so none of the advertised facilities were there. The lift to that floor was broken and I had to use the fire stairs. There were problems in the room too. The carpet looked old, there was no heating and the air conditioning only blew cold air. The desk had no power point, there wasn’t one in the living area, and the only one by the bed would be a struggle for two people. The bathtub came with nothing to use in it. They gave me just 2 toothbrushes when I arrived, which felt rationed, while the other hotels replenished them without limit. The first thing I saw on entering was overpriced food, drinks and water on the table, while other hotels don’t even charge for those anymore. Service was frustrating. The doorman was rude and gave me the wrong directions. Staff didn’t know how to operate the air conditioning, so I had to figure it out myself. They couldn’t print an invoice or any paperwork for my deposit, even though every other hotel I stayed at in China could at least prove I’d paid. Laundry was the most expensive of all 8 hotels, with an extra +15% service fee and then another +1.5% transaction fee. They called me down at 10pm to pay for it instead of waiting until checkout the next morning. That felt very stingy.