Hangzhou Westlake

“Lovely boutique hotel near Westlake”

The hotel just (Oct. 2025) switched from Hyatt to IHG as a 4-star Holiday Inn Westlake. After staying there for three days, I'd say it is one of the best city hotel I stayed. It has the boutique feeling of those in NYC and London: small front entrance on a busy street, next to the subway, the La… more

The hotel just (Oct. 2025) switched from Hyatt to IHG as a 4-star Holiday Inn Westlake. After staying there for three days, I'd say it is one of the best city hotel I stayed. It has the boutique feeling of those in NYC and London: small front entrance on a busy street, next to the subway, the Lake, and eateries. Most importantly, the staff is the most friendliest, and helpful (aka professional). Location: it's next to Exit C3 (escalator going down only) and C4 (escalator going up) of the Fenqi Rd stop on Line 1 & 2. Line 1 goes to the airport and Line 2 goes to one of the train stations. I took the subway from the airport (about an hour) and taxi to the airport (early morning flight), which is about 30-40 min. It's about 10 minutes walk to the West Lake if you cut across the Mall. Lots of restaurants around from high end to low end. This hotel has limited food options besides breakfast, which is excellent. The rooms are reasonable for a city hotel. The bathroom and toilet are in two separate areas with good separate ventilation, which is very useful but rare. The room temperature control works great. The room and the rest of the hotel are spot clean as expected and I don't hear much noise either from other guests nor from the street. The bedding is standard IHG, comfortable but nothing fancy. The breakfast is on the top (11th floor). The selection is very good with choices of order to made noodles and eggs. The top floor has an excellent view of the West Lake area (mostly mountains). It also doubles as a meeting/lounge area when not in breakfast time. The service provided by the staff is one of the best I have seen. All staff (front desk, cleaning clerk, dinning area, etc.) has a natural friendliness showing they care about my stay. It's different than some of the 5-star staff's "professional" attitude but more like a friendly neighbor (or a traditional bed and breakfast host), which I found as the one standing out from others. The coffee machine in the lobby is a manual one. The staff will make your drink one at a time. For a coffee drinker like me, it is a great bonus. In short, I will definitely come back.

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