Shengbo International Hotel

The location is handy, right at the beginning of the shopping street, and breakfast is decent with a good selection. But this definitely isn't a 4-star hotel. The rooms are shabby, though things work, and they do clean every day, just not very thoroughly. We had to call a cleaner because the carpet was still so dirty after cleaning. Towels and toiletries are replaced daily, but the rooms smell smoky. The panoramic restaurant has been closed for a long time; only the second-floor restaurant opens for breakfast, with no lunch or dinner. There's one Russian-speaking woman at reception. The others just wave guests over to her.

The location was the one good thing. We booked a triple room but were given a double with three beds, and it took ages to get a proper replacement. The room lighting was poor, and the power outlets were ridiculous. Towels were torn and not all got replaced. The furniture was worn, the carpet grimy, and the hotel didn't live up to its status.

A long trip there, then it feels like the only plan is to squeeze more yuan out of guests. The city is dusty and dirty, and even the store prices are discouraging. The hotel itself is cold, dark as a cave, and dirty, with prices way beyond reasonable. Maybe it's kept dim so they don't have to clean. The TV looks like something from the 1990s, like in cheaper Russian hotels. You can connect a phone to a TV to watch films and photos, but here you'd need to bring an HDMI cable and a laptop with an output. There's no free soap in the shower, no bedspreads, dust on the linens, and nowhere to store personal belongings. It's an overpriced stay, all show for our money. Treatment comes with no guarantees. The healthcare system isn't state-run and takes no responsibility; everything is done without contracts, in Chinese with no translation, and payment is upfront. The doctors seem bogus, and you can only hope the treatment works and the patient doesn't die in a ward or hotel.

For a mid-range Chinese hotel, this was disappointing. The rooms had old, torn sheets and towels, and Wi-Fi didn't work in them, which was the biggest problem. They didn't really clean: furniture was coated in what looked like years of dust. They just emptied the rubbish, topped up used shampoo and toothbrushes, and swapped the torn towels.