Holiday Inn Express Hefei Huaihe Road By Ihg

“Excellent in all but one respect”

If you like branded, international chains that deliver very high, standard service, then you'll love this Holiday Inn property. I'm not entirely familiar with the brand, but compared to IBIS and others in the same class, this property is streets ahead. The location is very good, considering that H… more

If you like branded, international chains that deliver very high, standard service, then you'll love this Holiday Inn property. I'm not entirely familiar with the brand, but compared to IBIS and others in the same class, this property is streets ahead. The location is very good, considering that Hefei really is a business and learning centre with very, very little to offer tourists and travellers. If you're here for work, the location is great. If you are here as a tourist, the location is even better, although it is quite a trek from the main high speed railway station at Hefei South. The bus 131 connects the station and hotel for just RMB2, but there's a short walk to the hotel door. The property is a 25 storey tower block, with a vast, expansive reception. The staff are courteous and efficient, but the Chinese 'guests' will do their best to push you out of the way and demand the attention of the staff and (rather annoyingly) they usually get what they want and the staff will stop what they're doing with you and help the more aggressive and rude guests. There are just three elevators and they are very slow. You can wait an age and often the elevator whizzed past the floor without stopping. You need your key to get to your floor. The rooms are vast and very well appointed. There's a fun, modern, striped carpet and a big comfortable bed with spotlessly clean linens. There's a working area, with excellent wifi and tea, coffee, daily bottled water and a kettle. There's also a flat screen TV. There's a comfy chair, but generally, the rooms are too big for what's in them. There's a lot of empty space. In the closet you'll find a safe. There's a glass wall separating the bathroom from the room and the bathroom is large with a big walk in shower. Excellent hot water pressure. The usual amenities are provided and the towels are clean and fresh. The flaw is in the breakfast, which is included in the rate. This is the hotel's biggest let down, although it may just be a matter of timing. I was here during the "golden week" of October when everyone in China travels. The restaurant is quite big but it could not cope with the hordes of people eating. The tables were piled high with detritus and the small handful of staff simply couldn't cope with cleaning the mess. There was nowhere for anyone to sit. They ran out of cups, glasses, cutlery and almost all the drinks were empty. There was one tiny, slow (painfully slow) coffee maker for the entire property. Since there were no cups, it didn't really matter. What food there was was being devoured like a plague of locusts had hit town and there was food everywhere. On the floor, on the serving areas, on the tables. Again, no staff were anywhere to be found and when they did appear with replenishments, it was gone in seconds. After 30 minutes of trying to get something - anything - to eat, I more or less gave up and grabbed a few of the remaining items and took them back to my room. The hotel would have known how busy they were going to be, so not to have staffed adequately and to have allowed such a free for all is pretty poor. They should at least have had a host or hostess seating people and making it more orderly. Then perhaps the kitchen could have coped and the filth everywhere could have been cleared away. I'd have to guess by what I witnessed that Chinese families starve themselves for weeks before booking into a hotel. It was ludicrous. The second morning I didn't even bother going to the restaurant and went out to buy my own food. Not good when you're already paying the hotel for breakfast. The rooms are reasonably quiet, although a crying baby did make a lot of noise. The windows let in a lot of street traffic noise despite the height, but I discovered the window was not sealed shut, so that may be why. A very good hotel let down by the terrible food service. Something perhaps they can fix.

less