Accommodations:
China is changing frenzily, so is its hotel industry.
Only a few hotels in small cities and towns are run by experienced or trained management and staff. As a result, good quality rooms with expensive facilities are not well maintained or cleaned by the hotel staff. This is compounded by certain guests who, in defiance of basic sanitary principles, drop cigarettes, food garbage, and spit or even blow their noses on the floor. Very few hotels could avoid deteriorating within two to three years' time .
That's why some ‘nice' hotels in China, recommended by guidebooks written only one or two years ago, may turn out to be a nightmare to travellers.
How to find a hotel?
Chinabackpacker's tips on how to find acceptable accommodation in small cities and towns:
- Look for those newly opened hotels. Observe if the building and its windows look new.
- Don't need to go to downtown. Private hotels frequented by small businessmen near bus stations offer pleasant double rooms with hot shower and toilet at a very reasonable price. (Y40-Y80 per room depending on the region).
- Always check the room to make sure that : 1) the flush toilet works; 2) there is hot water if the hotel claimed 24hour hot water availability; 3) sheets and covers are clean; ask the hotel staff to change them if otherwise.
- Talk to fellow travellers on the route who can give fresh information on the places you plan to go.
- Search the web, reliable information is dated less than one year.
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