WWen (Italy)Very good stay at Lantingyuan Hotel. The hotel is new and has a modern elegant design, with spacious common areas. The furniture is tasteful and focused on tea style. Also a tea showroom space (open for selling goods)
Service and responsiveness:
- The staff promptly accommodated requests for two additional pillows.
- We requested a quiet room away from the elevator, which was arranged successfully.
Room and amenities:
- The room features a thoughtful layout, with a separated shower and toilet.
- The view is striking in the evenings, especially with the colorful LED lights from the neighboring hotel building.
- Clean room
Check-in and dining:
- Check-in was fast.
- We were offered one breakfast for two people for free during our two-night stay.
- Free ice cream in the hall was a pleasant surprise.
Minor drawback:
- The minibar/fridge is not present, which is common in some hotels in China.
Overall impression:
- A very good stay with attentive staff and a strong design-forward vibe. Would consider returning for future visits.
VVeraForeign friends: don't stay here. The worst experience I've ever had trying to check in - and I've travelled to many remote places in Yunnan over the past six years.
Staff has no clue about rules and regulations, even though I showed them the most up to date rules for foreigners travelling in China.
They tried to stop me from leaving the hotel because they couldn't figure out how to check me in, even though I was very hungry and tired and wanted to eat and go to bed early.
They came to my room at 10pm but still couldn't figure out how to check me in.
And here is the worst: at 8am the manager opened the door of my room and walked in without knocking. There was no inside lock or chain. Luckily I wasn't in the shower.
Awful place that made me feel extremely unwelcome as a foreigner. They made me feel like a criminal because of their incompetence and stupid actions. Very different from most places where staff is helpful even if it's a bit more complicated.
DDionne94All the reviews are true, but it’s not the wooden building that causes it.
Yes, it is very loud and you hear everyone. We’ve stayed in other fully wooden places, it’s worse here. Maybe not the wood but the guests are the problem. Loud Chinese people, walking the stairs with the heaviest pace you can imagine. Maybe help the other guests by hanging some warnings on the stairs: please be mindful for the other guests when walking to your room.
Also loud Chinese tourist on the square below. Not only while eating they scream all over the place, also with the tea ceremony nobody asks them to please stop talking after 23:00/24:00. We were up till 02:00AM because of tea drinking Chinese people at the fire. We stayed in the suite, which is located above the fire pit. Maybe the other rooms are less noisy. At 7AM each morning, somebody ran down the stairs. We think it’s the staff. It wakes you up through your earplugs.
The staff is OK. They are very shy, not rude. They could be more pro active though as we didn’t feel like they wanted to do something.. which is different to rude but also not very friendly.
The other villages around are way bigger and less cozy than Wengji. Also, with this guesthouse being just next to the town, it was perfect to escape the tourists most of the time. We didn’t find other accommodations in Wengji with the same aesthetics as Shishi guesthouse so we can’t recommend other places better than this.
Maybe if the guesthouse would invest in trying to keep the noise down under the various guests, with text signs or with clearer house rules (fire pit), the noise problem wouldn’t be as bad.
Maybe if they tried to enthusiast their staff more and keep them from watching Chinese drama shows on their phones all day, they would be a bit more welcoming.
We’ve met a lot of amazing people in Wengji, it’s definitely not the locals that have this behaviour.
Lastly, the suite has a cubicle bathroom in the room, they really don’t clean this well. It smells very bad and just feels dirty all over.
For comfort this place is too expensive, for the location and aesthetics you won’t find better options nearby.