Shunxiang Xiting Hotel

Overall, this was a pleasant stay and I will book again if I visit Qiyang again. We had 2 adults and 2 young children. Wishing to stay together in one room, they happily allowed this and waived any additional charge for breakfast for my 2 kids. The place was clean and very comfortable. Whilst the rooms are very clean some mould is starting to colour on the waterproof sealing in the shower. I hope the hotel keeps the clean appearance with a bit of bleach cleaning on the mould. Another great plus is that they have 2 free to use washing machines and 2 dryers. I hand washed stained clothes in my room and use the machines for the final wash. It became one of the things I did whilst the wait was used to train in the gym next to the laundry area. The gym was rudimentary but if you know how to train, bringing in a couple of training bands will be adequate. The bench is a bit wobbly so watch out for that. The location of the hotel is perfect with a large park opposite. For western visitors, I think they need to understand a few things about hotels in non-first tier city in Mainland China and specifically Qiyang. 1) Yes, most things are in Puntonghua (including the room's voice control AI) although the front desk staff can communicate in basic English. 2) The breakfast food buffet is distinctly catered to local tastes, so you won't get western style croissants, sausages, bacon and eggs. What you will get is the delicious freshly made noodles and boiled eggs, steamed rice bus, fried noodles, fried rice, spicy fried pork and beef, with congee and Chinese style broth. If you want western breakfast, you need to go to local McDonalds which is a 5 minute taxi ride away. 3) That brings me on to taxis. On the plus, its cheap. Most taxis charge around RMB10-20 (USD 1.40 -2.40) for a 2 mile radius. On the negative, you need to be able to get one and the hotel doesn't have a taxi call service, not by any fault of the hotel but by the lack of committed taxi drivers who are willing to work with the hotel, so very much hail on the street yourself kind of thing. 4) There is a KTV on the 3rd floor of the hotel but that is normal for a big Qiyang hotel. I would definitely recommend one of the higher floors if you want a little less noise. 5) And yes, there is literally one or two German cockroaches in the room at night but luckily not a serious infestation level. That is expected for rural places like Qiyang especially where the origin of the infestation may not be at the hotel itself.