Xizhu Xiaoshanyue Villa Scenic Homestay (Dongyin Viewing Platform)

We are quite disappointed with this hotel. First of all, the floor hadn't been swept. It was quite dirty, as well as the glass walls covering the WC area. The sheets and towels were clean though. The view is pretty nice, but it comes at a price. The hotel location is not convenient. You have to take three buses after getting to the entrance of the town! It is quite a pain specially if you are traveling with suitcases. The last bus (the one that gets you from the center of Xijiang to the hotel and back) doesn't come by very often, most of the time you will be waiting for 15 mins or you will have to walk. The isolation of the hotel is very poor. Luckily for most of our stay we were the only ones there, but when there were other guests, we could hear them walking on our head as if they were elephants! There is construction work going on in the area and every morning we could hear them too. The owner was responsive, but the place was messy. I know that in this kind of hotels, they don't clean the room everyday, but we stayed 4 days and the owner did not ask if we needed the room cleaned or the towels changed, etc. We had to take out the trash ourselves. On one night, there was a blackout. It wasn't the owners fault. It affected the whole district, but it apparently happens often, and it comes to say that the area still needs to develop...

The hotel is located on top of a hill giving stunning views over Xijiang Village and its terraces. Be warned, it requires a couple hundred steps to reach the hotel and the road can be confusing the first few times, a good fitness level is required. There is a possibility to take an electric car to the hotel but it is very infrequent and you often have to wait a long time for it to depart. For me, waking up with this incredible view was worth climbing all the steps everyday. The room had all the necessary amenities, a comfortable bed and the airconditioning/heater was working as expected. I would stay here again.